Mumbai: Here's how cops solved 15-year-old water crisis at Naigaon

How do you tackle a water crisis in your area Find a solution yourself At least thats what the residents of Naigaon police quarters have done with help from an NGO Where they once received just 15 minutes of water supply a day from the BMC woefully little for the 10000 residents of the area now thanks to rainwater harvesting they have 338 million litres of water enough to last them another yearDr Rashneh Pardiwala founder director of CERE shows where the rainwater harvesting project was installed in Naigaon PicBipin Kokate2335 families affectedThe police precinct houses 2335 families of the constabulary a municipal school and a police hospital It also serves as a base for three battalions and many special units There are three large training grounds and national level sportspersons practising at the hockey maidan Despite this for the past 15 years the locality has been receiving less than 15 minutes of municipal water supply each day Every summer delegations of cops families come to us begging for a solution Also whenever training camps were held which happens at regular intervals we had to arrange for water tankers as we never had enough drinking water said Additional Commissioner Armed Police Aswati Dorje And during the monsoon the ground would get completely waterlogged We wanted to fix all these problems permanently said DorjeNGO to the rescueThen the Centre for Environmental Research and Education CERE came to the cops rescue suggesting a solution For the past three years we were working with the Mumbai police to plant 500 native trees in Naigaon under the Urban Afforestation Project During one of those visits we learnt about the acute water shortage and flooding problem in the area We asked the administration if we could do rainwater harvesting here and after a survey gave them a presentation We received the goahead immediately said Dr Rashneh Pardiwala founder and director of CEREWe got approval in March and literally worked day and night for threeandahalf months to get the system up and running said Dr Pardiwala beamingMumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar inaugurating the rainwater harvesting system last weekSeven defunct borewellsDuring the survey CERE found that there was one open well and nine borewells in the area that had been drilled to supplement water supply But the well ran dry soon after the monsoon while seven of the borewells were defunct The remaining two yielded water intermittentlyDr Pardiwala said People think rainwater harvesting only involves collection of rainwater from the terrace or other ways and storing it in an underground tank But it can also be done by creating a water basin under material that will help water percolate through the soil into the water table under the groundAs part of the plan each borewell was rebored to remove soil and debris that had choked them New boring and casing pipes were fitted and an entire new set of submersive pipes were installed and a new system was placed to control the borewellsNo waterloggingWhen rain arrived the very first change we noticed was that there was absolutely no waterlogging Earlier one rain shower was enough to flood the grounds said Dorje The water which accumulated underground recharged all the borewells giving enough water to the police colony and the ground said DorjeAccording to estimates the project that cost Rs 31 lakh and was funded by Corporate Social Responsibility has harvested 338 million litres of rain water benefitting 2335 families living across the colony With each family comprising at least four members the beneficiaries are around 10000 people plus recruits trainees and sportsmen who use the grounds When the ground water gets recharged it impacts at least 5km of wells recharging them with new water When the water was tested in the lab we were told it was not potable at the moment but over a period of time when the soil starts its own filtration it will be potable said Dr PardiwalaMuchneeded says CPThe project was inaugurated after the monsoon by Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar During the event when one of the outlets was opened a 10foothigh water fountain gushed out showing the amount of water collected during the monsoon This initiative was muchneeded as it was getting difficult for us to manage the water crisis in the area This project has been a great success and we are considering taking it up in other police grounds too said PadasalgikarEye on green precinctThe Naigaon area is looking at creating a Green Precinct We are working on putting solar panels in the community hall to make it selfreliant for energy Also we have a vermicompost initiative which produces compost every week We are also thinking of taking this water harvesting initiative on different police grounds across the city said Dorje