People asked to practise rain harvesting in Mizoram

Aizawl, Jun 6: Taking into account the scarce water resources in the state, the Public Health Engineering department of Mizoram has embarked on a mission to raise awareness among the public regarding Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) system in the hilly terrain.

The Aizawl Development Authority Building Regulations, 2008, which came into force from May 2 last, has made RWH mandatory for every newly constructed house in Aizawl. The RWH system has been practiced effectively in rural Mizoram for the last two decades.

''Our department is involved in all stages of the various RWH projects across the state. These include assessment, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and operation and maintenance all at free of cost,'' PHE sources said.

The department had started the RHW project by constructing 15,000 litre water tank in targeted villages, where gutters are provided to connect and collect rain water from the roofs of individual houses, the officials said.

To counter the problem of providing equal share of water to everyone, the department has constructed a family dedicated tank of 7,500 litre capacity, which also made of better cold rolled galvanised steel (bacteria free) at the cost of ranging between 13,000 to 20,000 depending upon the quality of material used.

The department has constructed more than 20,000 RWH tanks in about 100 villages, across the state, according to the department's sources.

The PHE department is also engaged in instituting control mechanisms to monitor quality of rain water by capturing run-off from rooftops, capturing run-off from local catchments, capturing seasonal flood water from local streams and conserving water through watershed management, throughout the region, officials said.

The department aims to cover the entire state with the RWH scheme by 2009.

UNI