Rain Harvesting Project launched in capital

[ameer219]

Rain Harvesting Project launched in capital
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Mobarik A. Virk

Islamabad

The Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, on Monday formally launched the unique ‘Rain Water Harvesting Programme’ at the Faisal Mosque, making CDA the first ever municipality and Islamabad the first ever city of the country to successfully launch the project.

The project is aimed at tapping rainwater that in the past had been drained in the natural nullahs and had gone waste. The Rainwater Harvesting Cell, established by the CDA chairman, started work on this project some time back and decided to set up the pilot project close to Faisal Mosque, which has a 0.3 square kilometre paved area and was ideal for setting up such a project because any amount of run-off water following rains could be tapped and used for the project.

The Rainwater Harvesting Cell, headed by the Director Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) of the Authority, Shahid Sohail, bored two 18 inch diameter and 150 feet deep inverted re-charge wells in addition to installing one infiltration gallery and one filter bed in this project at a cost of Rs1.5 million only.

“We put this project to experiment during the last rains and the results were tremendously encouraging,” the director STP told ‘The News’. “During the last spell of rains we received 10 millimetre of rain fall in this area that we infused into the ground using these two inverted re-charge wells. And we noticed a 11 feet rise in the sub-soil water level using the ‘Piezo Meter’ that was installed to monitor the underground water level. This amounts to almost six million gallons of water,” Shahid Sohail said.

He said that there was a network of pipelines laid under the vast compound of Faisal Mosque for flushing the run-off rain water into the nearby natural nullah. “This time we diverted all that water to these two inverted re-charge wells and achieved such encouraging results.

He also said that in addition to digging two inverter re-charge wells one infiltration gallery and one filter bed were also installed to arrest the sediments and the whole network worked perfectly.

He pointed out that the approximate annual rainfall in this region is 1.2 meter and if all this runoff water is tapped and infused into the ground using these inverter re-charge wells we would certainly be able to bring about a marvellous change in the environment.

CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said that the CDA has made comprehensive arrangements to replicate this network across the federal capital to benefit from this primary source of water — the rain — in collaboration with the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) and Pakistan Council of Research for Water Resources (PCRWR).

The CDA chairman said that Islamabad has a huge potential to benefit from this concept to overcome the water shortage in the city as the rise in sub-soil water level will eventually enhance the output of deep-sunk tubewells installed in the green areas of the city.

The chairman said that the authority has envisaged several projects to extend the network of rain water harvesting initiatives including introduction of roof-top water collection system at old Naval Headquarters Building, incorporating rain water collection system in the Zero Point Interchange Project and infiltration of water runoff from surrounding of Kachnar Park Sector I-8 through Swales and Soak ways in addition to making preparatory work for beginning rain water harvesting system in different city parks.

He also said that an amendment has been made in the CDA Building by-laws for constructing the rooftop water collection/rain water harvesting systems in houses build on plots having area of 400 square yards or more. He said that the study for standardising the roads drainage network for future sectors is being carried out to have rainwater harvesting for making the new sectors environment friendly.

“Cleaning of ravines, being the integral part of rain water harvesting mechanism, is being carried out in collaboration with the partner organisations. Under this programme Barri Imam streams are being cleaned with bio-remediation techniques with the technical assistance of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC),” the CDA chairman said while talking to the media on the occasion.

He also said that this model would be replicated in other streams crisscrossing the city to revive their natural flow. He said that a task force for cleaning of the streams and ravines consisting of CDA officers and Civil Society has been constituted to actively pursue this programme. He said that task force has successfully taken up the work of cleaning of ravine of Sector E-7 where substantial work has been done.

The chairman also said that the CDA has taken up the issues with the major polluters including Air and Naval Headquarters and housing societies in Sector E-11 and has urged them for construction of their own Sewage Treatment Plants (STP). He said that Metro Cash and Carry Store and Quaid-e-Azam University are constructing their own STP.

“Similarly, the entire sewage of the Village Chak Shahzad has been diverted to NARC farm for treatment through bio-remediation and utilisation of the treated water by NARC. We are making concrete efforts to make Islamabad an environment friendly city and a model municipality for the rainwater harvesting initiatives. In this connection the cooperation of the allied organisations is imperative to make this venture a success,” Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said.

Rain Harvesting Project launched in capital

 

[ameer219]

This should be a good news. Other than trying to argue with indian over water agression, we us Pakistanis, can find a way to conserve water for our own benefit

 

[Dr.Evil]

This is quite a good step if it is implemented all around the city.

A similar kind of scheme is being implemented in Hyderabad (India) for the last 10 years or so. For any developer to get a building permission to build a high rise Apartment or House they have to these rain harvesting wells in their premises.

We had is installed even in our house. This step has been quite helpful in increasing the water table.

Hope Islamabad metropolis does not just do it for name sake, it has to be thorughly implemented to really see the results.

 

[asif1986]

Pakistan is a water stressed country and i think federal gov should make rainwater harvesting all across the country compulsory by bringing in legislation for it.

 

[jagjitnatt]

A good step by GoP.

In Chandigarh, one can not use fresh water to wash his/her car as per law. There is a restriction on max water used for such purposes.

Also car washing, cleaning porches and such things get banned during peak times(9 to 5) in summer.

This method saves a lot of water. Also people get to learn something.

 

[Justin Joseph]

A good step by GoP.

In Chandigarh, one can not use fresh water to wash his/her car as per law. There is a restriction on max water used for such purposes.

Also car washing, cleaning porches and such things get banned during peak times(9 to 5) in summer.

This method saves a lot of water. Also people get to learn something.

Not only in Chandigarh also in many other cities for example Delhi.

In India Rain water harvesting is mandatory by law for high rise buildings.

 

[Nahraf]

The real story of water scarcity in Pakistan actually comes from how we deal with and manage our water resources. Over and above seepage of water because of un-lined canals and evaporation, water resources are simply "stolen." Rumour is that some 40 per cent of the water used in irrigation goes to waste or is stolen. Why does not Pakistan invest in updating canals and smart water use. Pakistan must use dripline irrigation technology which uses a pressurised system of several main pipes and hundreds of drip lines that can carry the water up the hill and deliver it through sprinkles to the roots of every tree. Pakistan should plant trees to curb desert encroachment and soil erosion all over Pakistan.

 

[ice_man]

pakistan can make smal dams all over the country and create electricity! in murre area alot of rain water just flows downstream unhindered! if that water can somehow be contained & used to supply to nearby valley & villages it can lead to a greater self reliant society!

 

[ameer219]

A good step by GoP.

In Chandigarh, one can not use fresh water to wash his/her car as per law. There is a restriction on max water used for such purposes.

Also car washing, cleaning porches and such things get banned during peak times(9 to 5) in summer.

This method saves a lot of water. Also people get to learn something.

Not only in Chandigarh also in many other cities for example Delhi.

In India Rain water harvesting is mandatory by law for high rise buildings.

Have to admit,GoI have better governance than Pakistan and has plan ahead for future water uses. Also , good job by the GoI in mantaining water supply, I hope GoP can learn from this

 

[Justin Joseph]

The real story of water scarcity in Pakistan actually comes from how we deal with and manage our water resources. Over and above seepage of water because of un-lined canals and evaporation, water resources are simply "stolen." Rumour is that some 40 per cent of the water used in irrigation goes to waste or is stolen. Why does not Pakistan invest in updating canals and smart water use. Pakistan must use dripline irrigation technology which uses a pressurised system of several main pipes and hundreds of drip lines that can carry the water up the hill and deliver it through sprinkles to the roots of every tree. Pakistan should plant trees to curb desert encroachment and soil erosion all over Pakistan.

You have raised some very valid points.

I like to add my bit.

1. The Canal which supplies water to Delhi is "Munak Nahar" which is raw, i.e. they have just dig the earth and make a way for water to flow. Now, Govt of Delhi has make it with concrete, it will save 30% water wastage. i.e. if 100 liters of water was released by Haryana for Delhi only 70 liters reaches due to leakages.

2. There was some very good work by Narendra Modi in Gujarat he has build 2,00,000 check dams and barrages. The point is not to let any drop of water goes waste.

3. The Israel have developed some techniques in drip and root level irrigation which Israel uses in desert areas. The same is adopted by the modi govt. on large scale, the result is today Gujarat has the highest growth rate in Agriculture in whole of India.

4. The canal system is of last century, we should build pipelines it will save wastage, evoperations also the most important and costly thing i.e. fertile land.

As the land area wasted in canal will be saved as the pipeline will goes under the earth.

 

[secularguy]

I thought every new building in India needs to have rain harvesting system in order to get Municipal/Panchayath Approval?May be it is Only in South India?

 

[sparklingway]

Rain water harvesting and storagee, albeit on a smaller scale, was implemented in many villages around Tharparkar and Badin a couple of years back.

 

[aakalim]

how well would this work for areas that have very less rainfall...i mean Islamabad experiences relatively more rainfall, as compared to other main cities like Lahore. Would this rainharvesting be feasilble for lets say Lahore or Karachi.

 

[Nahraf]

Pakistan is sleepwalking towards water rationing and probably war unless it tries to tackle the problem of water shortage. One one hand we have huge waste of agriculture water and on the other we have fancifull plans of rain harvesting. What about fixing the canals that carry water to farms they are more than century old. How about smart use of water resources. Rain harvesting can be applied in Karachi and Balochistan where the rain is scarce and clouds pass overhead from Arabian Sea. In Punjab and upper Sindh we have to fix the canals.