Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Vadodara’s rain water harvesting project in his Mann Ki Baat

Called this Vadodara model of rainwater harvesting in schools a motivator for others

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat mentioned the rain water harvesting project run by Vadodara district administration. He mentioned the Vadodara project as an interesting campaign run by locals and the district administration which is an inspiring example in Gujarat.

He said the project would save 100 million litres of wasted rain water. Giving the example of rain water harvesting in 1000 schools, he urged the people to come up with ideas and implement such plan for the protection of nature and environment during the current rainy season.

The rain water project is the brainchild of Vadodara District Collector Shalini Agarwal and suggested the idea to store the water in schools which get wasted every year. Under it 1000 buildings of 1071 government schools in rural areas are covered under the Rainwater Harvesting Project, with almost all schools have completed it before the arrival of monsoon. The project has been funded under the Corporate Social Responsibility and the effective design has been created at low cost by the engineers. A strategic infrastructural system has been set up to collect rainwater from the roofs of school buildings under the approach of public participation.

Funding for this has been provided from the District Mineral Fund, other grants and CSR contributions from industrial units. It is estimated that in a year with average rainfall, this system will store 1 lakh lakh liters and more in heavy rainfall during monsoon. This will increase the ground water level in the areas.

It is not known that such a rainwater harvesting system has been set up in government schools in any district of the country. Therefore Vadodara is probably become the first district in the country to have roof water drainage facility in all government school buildings in rural areas. That is why the Prime Minister has called this Vadodara model of rainwater harvesting in schools a motivator for others.

Following this project, the mud and dirt caused by the flooding of rain water around the schools will be removed and the schools will be kept clean. As the project was completed before the monsoon, it will be possible to stop the flow of rain water from this year onwards. This type of project can have the benefit of raising the ground water level.

The pioneer of this project and District Collector Shalini Agarwal has credited Team Vadodara for its hard work and donor organizations. She congratulated the District Primary Education Officer, District Planning Officer, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan team as well as all those who contributed to the implementation of this project.