Rain Water Harvesting system implemented in Vadodara district schools

Campaign initiated by District Collector to create rain water harvesting in 963 schools

As groundwater level falls drastically, government is taking various steps to increase it. One such step is rain water harvesting to collect the water at overhead or underground tanks to stop it being wasted. One such initiative is started in Vadodara district where schools are becoming part of campaign to create rain water harvesting in their buildings.

Working towards the same initiative Vadodara District Collector Shalini Agrawal has taken up new innovative step towards environment protection. This initiative will proved as a boon to Vadodara district as it will store rain water in primary and secondary schools which was wasted till now without any proper planning. This campaign has been initiated in 963 schools with a goal for collecting and storage of rain water through rain water harvesting structures under CSR and public sector units. One important point to mention is that Collector herself an engineer review the project and guide the team of engineers to work on creating the system of underground storage having low cost structure.

Collector Shalini Agrawal recently held a meeting with various departments associated with the project to monitor the progress of the project. She later appealed them to make these facilities available as soon as possible. District Planning Officer J.C. Rawal informed that 59 schools are selected for the first phase for water harvesting. Construction has been completed in 51 schools and work is carried out in remaining eight schools. He further added, currently work has been started up in 322 schools with the funding of public sector units and planning has been taken up for rest of the 581 schools with public support.

Generally such kind of traditional projects would cost around 3 to 5 Lakhs, but under the guidance and counseling of Collector the team of engineers has made a design which is not so expensive but economical.

In the first design, the schools having the borewell will be covered by roofs and rainwater will be collected and transported to the ground through the same. Borewells will be constructed in such schools where it is missing and rain water will be drained into the ground as per the above pattern.

During the rainy season on an average 1 lakh liters of rainwater is been wasted from one school and with the help of these two projects the collected water could be helpful to enrich the earth by storing and collecting it underground with minimal cost of Rs 25 to 90 Thousands.

The project will help stop the mud and filth in rainy season and also prevent the nuisance of mosquitoes and other insects during the season. Secondly the ground water level will increase and students will learn ways to save environment. The project will beneficial in many ways and will be a model to follow by other states in future.