A new Rainwater Harvesting convert!

“ The whole experience has inspired me,” says Ramsy Pinto a young engineer from IBM. “What initially started out as a knee jerk reaction to the BWSSB notification for mandatory RWH in my house, has instead taught me the true benefits of harvesting the rain. Now I will fit the same system in my house in Mangalore and enjoy the benefits there as well.”

For me a journalist who writes to educate and push the need to RWH in Bangalore, India, where fresh water is becoming a huge problem, every convert is a huge step in the right direction! Now Ramsy will help me get the word out to his connections and in the RWH arena, the spread of the concept by word-of-mouth is the best method. Ramsy and his little family live in a large house in Hennur, Bangalore with a manicured garden. “We buy water in tankers at Rs 250/- per tanker and I need 8-10 tankers a month for our home and garden needs,” explains Ramsy. What was initially planned along with his land-lord was the rainwater was going to be channelised to rejuvenate the ground water. There were certain guidelines which the BWSSB had set down including re-charging the ground water table with the rain water collected. If this was not done,the BWSSB had threatened that no ‘regular’ government supplied connection would be given to the house, once Cauvery river water began to be piped to the area.It was really just a stop gap arrangement to show the BWSSB that they had complied.

“ The first few quotes to undertake the job,we got from specialists were in the region of one half lakh and above. Then we were lucky to get this retired engineer named Jeff D’Lemos who quoted such a tiny figure, we were unsure if he could handle the job,” said Ramsy. Jeff looked at the three drains on the roof of the building and checked which drain took 50 – 70% of the water down. Then Jeff bought three lengths of PVC pipe of 6 inch diameter and a filter authorised by the government of India and fitted them. The rainwater is filtered and then goes straight into the sump and is used for all the requirements of the house.

Ramsy and his wife Shobha are so pleased that now for five months of the year they do not have to buy any tankers of water. Instead they get fresh and pure rain water. Of course they have to keep the terrace clean and release the first flow of rain water collected incase its got a lot of dust off the roof. After that the filter does its job and they get an ample supply of water to fill their sump. You can almost hear his chuckle of delight when he tells you that in the first year itself, not only has he got back his investment of Rs.15,000 he also feels he is doing something to cut back on depleting the ground water table by pumping the excess rainwater to the borewell in the premises.

As one can see in the pictures, the rains have brought welcome relief and also a strong advocate for RWH in Ramsy who will happily pass the word around about its efficacy and why all of us have to help ourselves rather than whine about water scarcity in the city of Bangalore.