Hyderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has made rainwater harvesting (RWH) a mandatory requirement for all new buildings.
New buildings need to get an approval order from RWH in the cantonment area.
The SCB engineering wing receives an average of 15-30 applications monthly for building approval. Speaking to the Times of India, an SCB official said that approval will be granted only if the builder follows the rainwater harvesting rule.
This decision came after the 2020 floods where plenty of rainwater ran into the drains and there was an acute water shortage.
The funds-starved Secunderabad Cantonment Board spends around 20-30 lakh every monsoon season to build up over 800 defunct borewells due to the drastic dip in groundwater levels.
P Kalyan, a resident of Kalyan Hills was quoted by TOI as saying, “Out of 370 residential colonies hardly 70 colonies have followed the RWH concept. Moreover, the SCB does not have a technical team to help the people in building RWH pits. We have to either rely on the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board department or a private firm for it.”
Another resident, D Rahul Raddy of Marredapally area said that due to the rocky terrains of Mahendra Hills there is no other option for them to set up rainwater harvesting pits.
