Corpn. plans to bring playgrounds, parks under RWH

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, OCT. 2 The Chennai Corporation has taken up the second- phase of setting up the rainwater harvesting (RWH) mechanism in 15 playgrounds and parks.

In the first phase, the civic body covered more or less similar number of the open spaces to harness rainwater. A sum of Rs. 15 lakhs has been allocated for this scheme.

The places where the RWH structures have been established include Theagarayar Park in Thiruvottiyur, Anna Park in Royapuram, Corporation playground in Gopalapuram; on Venkatanarayana Road in T.Nagar and on Greenways Road in R.A.Puram, Visweswarayya Park in Anna Nagar, Panagal Park, and the Corporation schools for boys and girls on Jones Road in Saidapet.

Sources in the Corporation say the civic body has planned to bring under ``the RWH net'' all the 150 playgrounds and 18 parks in a phased manner. In addition to its school premises, the Corporation has made the RWH mechanism a permanent feature of buildings to be built in future.

Meanwhile, experts have given suggestions to extend the concept to more areas. ``If implemented, these ideas will not only help replenish the groundwater table of the city but also lessen overloading of stormwater drains and stagnation of rainwater'', they say.

Land Use Specific Water Banks

As the city possesses parks, playgrounds, roads and vast office compounds, sumps may be created and their bottom portion can be left unpaved to allow percolation, according to the Chief Engineer in the Public Works Department and Director of the Institute of Water Studies, Mr. P. V. Sahadevan. To allow run-off water into these sumps, mini drains can be constructed. Besides, a provision for harnessing excess water should be made. The top portion of the sumps should be properly sealed.

He calls this system of harvesting rainwater as Land Use Specific Water Banks and adds that in a normal season (northeast monsoon), the metropolis can harness rainwater in the range of 2.8 tmc ft to 4.2 tmc ft, assuming its area as 1,000 sq. km.

The stretch starting from Raj Bhavan to Children's Park, on either side of Sardar Patel Road, is an ideal place for executing an RWH scheme on a big scale, Mr. D. V. Subramanian, former Director in the Meteorological Department, says.

This ``Institutional Area'' of Chennai, comprising the premises of Highways Research Station, Directorate of Technical Education, Anna University, IIT, and Cancer Research Institute, offers very good scope. ``Implementing RWH will be specially appropriate in view of the depleted groundwater in Gandhi Nagar and Kasturba Nagar in Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Kotturpuram and neighbourhood. It will also give a new lease of life to numerous ponds between Velachery lake and Adyar river,'' he adds.

In the northern parts of Chennai, a number of buildings starting from the RBI along the beach road can be covered under the roof- top water collection technique as most of the structures have terraces with large areas. ``There will be an added merit in implementing RWH to charge groundwater table on this north-south stretch, as it will provide a freshwater barrier to the incursion of sea water to the table'', Mr. Subramanian says.

He refers to the installation of a RWH system in the premises of Rashtrapathi Bhavan covering an area of 1.33 sq.km with a potential of collecting 800 million litres annually and says the State Governor should take the cue from the example set by the President.

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Section  : Southern States
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