As Chennai runs out of water, this city apartment saved over 30,000 litres in just an hour
Sabari Terrace, an apartment complex located along the IT corridor in Chennai, saved water from its 25,000 sq ft terrace.
Chennai is in the grip of a severe water crisis. At this time, any solution is welcome. The good news is that an apartment in the city made news by collecting over 30,000 litres of water in just an hour. It’s a feat which most city apartments must emulate to face severe water shortage.
Last week when Chennai received its first rainfall amid the water crisis, an apartment complex, Sabari Terrace, located along the IT corridor, collected 30,000 litres of water through rain harvesting from its 25,000 square foot terrace.
The complex, which houses 56 families, uses rainwater for three months a year, as it does not have a piped water supply in the building.
Setting up the pipe line connection for rainwater harvesting (Image: Harsha Koda)
Speaking to NDTV, Harsha Koda, Secretary of the resident’s association, said,
"When we recharge groundwater, we have to wait for six months for it to get into our wells to use that water. But on OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), where there is no piped water, we need water now. So, if it rains today, we collect the water and in two hours we get to use it. Thirty thousand litres mean we save around Rs 5,000.”
His wife, Prabha, added, "From every square foot of terrace surface area, we can take one litre of water if it rains for an hour. It's as simple as that. We have a 25,000 square foot terrace and we get at least 25,000 litres in an hour. If there's a three-hour downpour we collect one lakh litres, completely filling up our tanks with rainwater sufficient for the 56 flats for three days," she explains.
(Image: Harsha Koda)
Unlike last year, where the rainwater was used to recharge the groundwater, this year the community chose to collect the water for their needs. After treating the water, it was stored in the underground tanks, and the remaining was released into the ground.
As per Storypick, the harvesting facility will not only solve the water crisis to some extent but will also reduce the dependency on state water supply for their daily needs.
Witnessing how the complex saved water to meet their daily needs, communities living nearby have decided to replicate the model. For instance, Central Park South, an apartment complex near Sabari Terrace, has now started harvesting rainwater.
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