COIMBATORE: As part of its rainwater harvesting initiatives, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation is planning to rejuvenate waterbodies, including small ponds. The civic body has identified about 30 waterbodies for the purpose, corporation commissioner Katta Ravi Teja told TOI. “The identified waterbodies include our major tanks that are already in full storage,” he said.The corporation held a two-day consultative meeting with NGOs and environmental organisations to discuss rainwater harvesting initiatives. The meeting held on Thursday and Friday focused on rejuvenating defunct waterbodies and measures to improve water conservation.As part of its ongoing assessment of rainwater harvesting systems across properties, the corporation has inspected nearly 1.58 lakh properties in five zones. The commissioner said out of the assessed properties, around 88,000 properties were found to have functional rainwater harvesting structures. “The rest of them were either partially functioning or were defunct.”According to official sources, nearly 55,000 properties had no RWH systems and 15,000 structures needed repair. Notices would be issued to 50,000 properties that failed to implement the RWH structures.The assessment will continue until all the properties within the corporation limits have been covered and documented.On behalf of the Kousika Neerkarangal (an NGO), a recommendation was made during the consultative meeting to divert the rainwater flowing along the roads into Vannar Kuttai in the Saravanampatti area. S Sivaraja, secretary of Kousika Neerkarangal, said, “The waterbody is reportedly free of encroachments, and it remains relatively clean. However, its original inflow channel has been converted into a sewage infrastructure network, with the sewage line now running around the waterbody. During monsoon, rainwater flowing from the road on the northern side of the waterbody and from the Saravanampatti–Thudiyalur Road generally runs downhill without being stored. This not only leads to the wastage of rainwater but also causes traffic disruptions. In this case, it would be much more useful for ground recharge and rainwater storage into the tank if the runoff diverted into the tank.”Kousika Neerkarangal founder P K Selvaraj suggested that all public spaces within the corporation limits be classified and mapped systematically. Natural rainwater flow paths and locations suitable for collecting and storing rainwater should be identified and documented, he said while talking to TOI. He said, “Rainwater-harvesting structures should be scientifically designed to ensure long-term safety and durability with location-specific planning. An integrated and properly planned network of rainwater drains should also be established. The number and depth of recharge borewells should be determined based on the area available, the volume of rainwater runoff, and the soil’s infiltration capacity.”
