TURA: West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh has informed that rain water harvesting structure is being made mandatory in each and every house in the district to enable the storage of water for use during dry months.
With the ongoing nationwide implementation of Jal Shakti Abhiyan in the district, various awareness campaigns and workshop on conservation of water catchment areas, rivers and streams of the region and demonstration of rain water harvesting techniques was held at DC Park in Tura. The program was organised by District Administration, West Garo Hills, Tura, Tura Municipal Board and IBDLP, West Garo Hills in collaboration with SCSTE, Shillong.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills, Tura Ram Singh said that even though the region receives abundant rainfall many people are spending more money on buying water than on food. Moreover, the rain water flows away and hence these water need to be stored for use during dry months. Therefore, in order to conserve this water, rain water harvesting structure is being made mandatory in each and every house, he informed and added that by making rain water harvesting structures people can save from buying water for everyday use.
On water harvesting structure, he suggested that the people can go for low cost rain water harvesting structure within an amount of Rs. 16, 000 to 30, 000 which depends on the storage capacity. Further, he urged the people to safeguard and protect the ecosystem of the region and thereby, preserve the water bodies of the area for the future generation.
Representative from Soil and Water Conservation, Tura explained in detail about the structure and techniques of rain water harvesting structure. He informed that there are different ways to conserve water of which rooftop rain water harvesting, recharge of ground water by making trenches and springshed water rejuvenation were usually done by the department in the region. One of the most important factors determining the rain water harvesting structure is budgeting, he said and added that most of the budgeted amount goes for the construction of storage tank which is calculated as per the number of household in a family and quantity of water used by a person everyday for sustainable use during the dry months and which can vary as per the number of the family size.
Moreover, he also informed that in order to keep the stored water in good condition, the rain water is filtered by using stones, sand and charcoal at the bottom and this water can be used during the dry months easily.
Representative from SCSTE, Shillong also igave a demonstration about low cost water harvesting structure by using containers and filters the water with aluminium bucket by using bricks, sand, charcoal, sand, coconut coir and placing coconut coir in between each material.Chief Executive Officer, Tura Municipal Board, Rezia Ch Sangma, District Urban Planner, P N Sangma, Deputy Commandant, 141 Bn BSF, Tura, R P Sharma, Representatives from Development Committees, Members of Senior Citizens were among others present at the meeting.
