Monsoon near, but 60% rain harvesting units defunct

GURGAON: An MCG survey conducted ahead of the monsoon season found that only 41% of the city's entire rainwater harvesting systems are operational. According to MCG records, 400 harvesting systems are installed in the civic body's areas. Of them, 235 are not functional. MCG officials stated that they are striving to repair them so that they may become operational before the monsoons.
“We recently conducted a survey and discovered that only 165 of the city's 400 rainwater harvesting units are operational. We've already begun working on them, to make them operational before the monsoons. We want the pits to be used as the monsoons approach and prove beneficial in recharging the groundwater table,” said an MCG official privy to the matter.
Officials told the union minister and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh at a recent meeting that the MCG staff was trying to repair the defunct rainwater harvesting systems.
The Haryana Building Code, 2017, requires housing societies to ensure that rainwater harvesting systems are operational for storing water for non-potable purposes to recharge groundwater.
In August 2021, the district administration's GuruJal organisation launched a rainwater collecting calculator based on the city's 30-year rainfall record.
Residents can use the GuruJal portal to use the calculator. The rainwater harvesting capacity and annual recharge potential will be calculated by the calculator. Based on the data given, the calculator also estimates rooftop runoff and green area runoff. Residents have to provide some parameters, such as their rooftop area and green space, for the calculator to offer a rainwater harvesting system design.