NEW DELHI: Majority of the housing societies in Delhi have missed the deadline to set up rainwater harvesting within the residential complexes as instructed by the National Green Tribunal. According to the Delhi Jal Board, which was made the nodal agency to keep a check on the registration of rainwater harvesting from the societies, said that out of more than 1,000 residential complexes only 221 have followed the norms.
“The order from NGT was for government buildings, schools and housing complexes. While the government buildings have completed the procedure, the societies haven’t followed the norm. Meetings were organised throughout the year with the society heads. Some understood the need for rainwater harvesting while others cited different reasons for following the order,” said an official from the DJB to this newspaper.
As per the rule, rooftop rainwater harvesting has been made mandatory for a plot size of 100 square metres and above in the Building Bye-Laws for Delhi. While it is the responsibility of the societies to set up the RWH system themselves, the Jal Board provides support of up to Rs 50,000 to establish it. The cost of setting up the system costs around Rs 5-7 lakh.
DJB also provides technical assistance, empanelled agencies and simplified designs. “The response is very poor from the East and North housings. They have a misconception about RWH; the wet soil is misinterpreted as groundwater whereas that is not the case. Citing some reports, the societies claimed that GW is high in East and North zone because of proximity to the Yamuna but that is not correct. GW level is very low across Delhi,” said Ankit Srivastava, technical advisor to the DJB. While NGT’s last date for updating about RWH was till December 31, the DJB has deferred the last date to March 31 this year.