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BWSSB Rain Water Harvesting rules

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Written By sanjayv - 24 September, 2009

Bangalore BWSSB Water Review Others Everything else RWH

Folks,  The draft rules for the BWSSB Rain Water Harvesting Amendment Act 2009 have been published on the BWSSB website.  They have generously provided one whole week for feedback from the general public. See the rules here.

Please review the rules if you are interested.  I am not sure how detailed "rules" are supposed to be? My understanding is that the rules are what translate the intent of the act to practice.

However, a first reading is disappointing to me.  The rules do not specify any standards for the design or qualifications for a designer. Linking the design to a published standard, if available.  There is no clarity of how "quality" will be ensured.  There is no clarity on what percentage of built up area should be harvested.  Will someone who harvests from part of their roof qualify?  What if the RWH system goes into disuse after a certain number of years.

Original amendment can be found here:

The key text of the amendment is as follows:

“72A. Obligation to provide rain water harvesting structure.- Within nine months from the date of commencement of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Amendment) Act, 2009, every owner or occupier of a building having a sital area of 2400 square feet and above or every owner who propose to construct a building on a sital area of 1200 square feet and above, shall provide for rain water harvesting structure in such manner, with such conditions as may be provided in the regulations, failing which the Board may cause such rain water harvesting structure and recover the cost from the owner or occupier, as the case may be, as arrears of land revenue".

 

COMMENTS

Comments

thampan - 25 September, 2009 - 02:15

A quick feedback based on single reading of the rules.
  1. Section 7 & 8 of the document seem to be a repetition.
  2. The rules talk about "owner who constructs", it does not talk about builders who construct apartments etc. These rules may be questioned later, since apartment owners typically will not have 1200 sq ft of land in their name. Hence rules should be modified to bring in the aspect of shared housing.  ( any construction within a plot area of 1200 sqfts or more should have water harvesting installed by the owners individually or collectively) ( appliable to apartments, housing colonies etc)
  3. The rules assume storage for 2 cm of rainfall ( roof top). Is this adequate ? ( similarly 1cm for ground)
  4. any covered land ( concrete, tar etc) should be considered similar to roof tops (open cemented parking lots etc)
  5. at least, Quality of water used to recharge through borewells should be specified as it is going directly into the water table. ( i have not had a look at IS10500)
  6. the document uses the term appropriate - to clarify what is appropriate and what is not, examples should be specified so that the courts can interpret better in case of dispute.
  7. the only penal action specified is that BWSSB can build RWH systems and levy the cost from the owners. In addition to this BWSSB should have authority to charge fines ( which could be compounded with time) ( to be fixed in the rules) till such systems are installed and then charge the cost of the system.  This will ensure that the citizens will install RWH systems.
  8. The period of 9 months is a short time period for existing constructions. This should be extended to, say 2 years.

 

Sanjay, would be great if you could coordinate to collect feedback from praja and send it.

Tarle, hoping to hear from you on this.

few more comments

thampan - 25 September, 2009 - 02:32

  1.  to ensure effective implementation, BWSSB approvals should not be given to any new project ( if RWH is applicable) without RWH in the plans after 12 months of these rules being applicable.
  2. for existing constructions, the owners should be mandated to submit the master plan for RWH within one year of the rules being applicable and implementation within two years.
  3. There should be a competent authority setup to review the plans and inspect RWH installations.
  4. The efficacy of RWH installations should be measured through self submissions and random checks

Will send compiled comments

sanjayv - 25 September, 2009 - 06:32

 Please post your views and have a vigorous discussion. Like it or not, this law will directly impact almost all of us.  So imagine that you have to install a RWH system within 9 months (if one is not already present). What is required so that this will be a robust practice for years to come. The amendment conveniently put everything on the framed "rules and regulations".  I will do the job of compiling and sending to BWSSB.

Does anyone here  have any knowledge of how the Chennai experience went?  What were the learnings there?

Some Format Suggestions

RKCHARI - 25 September, 2009 - 12:05

How about something like this?

 

Suggestions to Rules & Regulations for Rainwater Harvesting Systems Mandatory Implementation
 
 
1.      Point 2 (Viii): “Ground Water Recharge” means infiltration of water to enhance aquifer levels;
 
Point 2 (ix): Rainwater Harvesting means a system to scientifically collect as much of rainfall as possible (preferably 95% to 100%) from total catchment area (including roof tops and all open areas around building), filtering it to remove microbial pathogens and floating particles when storing for potable use and ordinary sieve filtration when water is being stored for secondary use;
 
2.      Point 3: Rainwater Harvesting Scheme Implementation:
 
i)Roof based rainwater harvesting shall mean collection of 100% of rainfall after removal of first flush contaminants preferably through natural green process of roof gardens, storing in tanks made preferably in recycled material like polypropylene etc, stored preferably underground (to ensure UV effect does not lead to photosynthesis and algae formation within the tank and that water is stored in cool, dark environs with proper aeration through capillary action) and accessed through simple pumping action directly to taps or through overhead tanks;
 
ii) Land based rainwater harvesting / storm water infiltration shall mean collection/infiltration of 100% of rain that falls on all open lands surrounding the building for retention and re-use or for recharging aquifers to increase groundwater table level.
 
 
 
 
3.      Point 4: (A) Roof Based Rainwater Harvesting:
 
(a)   If Rainwater Harvesting is done for the sole purpose of collecting water for all primary / potable use like drinking and cooking, it should conform to IS 10500 standards or better;
 
(b)   If however Rainwater Harvesting is done for reuse for secondary purposes like gardening, toilet flushing, washing clothes and utensils and car washing etc, normal filtered water with no apparent contaminants like leaves and insects would suffice;
 
4.      Point 4: (B) Recharging Groundwater Table:
 
(a)   All Rainwater Harvesting done for purpose other than for re-use, should be infiltrated within the catchment area to recharge aquifers preferably through pervious surfaces; care should be taken to infiltrate only treated / clean water and not any form of contaminated water;
 
(b)   Design Criteria: Whether rainwater is being collected for re-use or infiltration, the design of the entire system should preferably be to ensure maximum efficiency in the quantum collected, both from roof tops and surrounding land within the catchment area;
 
 
 

I have not touched on other legalese issues - just stuck to wording the technical aspect more scientifically.

Happy more suggesting!

Chari

RWH Rules

RKCHARI - 24 September, 2009 - 17:13

Hi SanjayV,

I am submitting some additional inputs to ensure concerns of quality and qualification of persons installing the unit for the home owner is addressed. It is not just a question of collecting water from roofs and open areas, filtering and storing. There is a science behind the entire process to get maximum mileage from this God given gift. Let me see how best I can address these issues.

Similarly for infiltration and ground water table recharge. It has to be done scientifically capturing 100% and ensuring 0% runb-offs.

Shall keep Prajagalus in the loop.

Regards

Chari

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