SECUNDERABAD: In an honour for the Sai Baba Officers Colony in Sainikpuri, the ministry of Jal Shakti has recognised one of its residents — C S Chandrasekhar — as a ‘Blue Hyderabad Champion’ for his outstanding work in creating rainwater harvesting (RWH) structures in the locality.
The colony has now become a role model for other residential societies in the city.
On Wednesday, Chandrasekhar received an official communication from the ministry about the honour, given to him under the ‘The Rainwater Project’ category.
Sharing the achievement with others from the area, he said: “We refurbished old RWH pits built by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) in this colony, at our own expense…inspired by this honour, we have now set a target to help all our residents build their own RWH pits in their homes, based on the space available within their premises.” At present, residents of the colony divert the entire rainwater, that collect on their rooftops, through a pipe to an underground storage tank.
When that overflows, its diverted to RWH pits for ground water percolation.
Thus, bores which have been dry for several years get a new lease of life, those this concept.
“There are a lot of high-rise buildings that have come up here and depend on borewells.
As a result, groundwater extortion is high in this area.
So, there is a need to dig RWH pits to save groundwater for the future,” said Sudesh Kumar, treasurer of the Sai Baba Officers Colony which has about 220 houses.
Deepa Shailendra, resident of Sainikpuri said that building RWH pits will also cater to people’s regular needs, like gardening and cleaning.
Apart from spearheading RWH projects, Chandrasekhar has also been part of the residents movement seeking reopening of 21 civilian roads in the Cantonment area, for close to six years.