Rainy days are here, but Corpn has no info on RWH status in 75 per cent buildings

According to Corporation data, the civic body and the Metro Water officials inspected only around 3.26 lakh houses in the city to check the condition of rainwater harvesting structures till February 28. Of the 3.26 lakh, 2.57 lakh buildings have well-maintained rainwater harvesting structures.

Also, officials constructed new rainwater harvesting structures in over 43,000 buildings and identified more than 26,000 houses without such structures.

Of the 12 lakh buildings, which were assessed for property tax, officials could inspect only 25 per cent of the buildings across the city before COVID-19 pandemic hit. However, there are no official data regarding the number of functional rainwater harvesting structures in the remaining 75 per cent of the buildings.

“After the COVID-19 started spreading in the city, our entire field-level team was diverted to disease prevention works. We could not continue creating more rainwater harvesting structures,” a Chennai Corporation official said.

On the other hand, the Corporation had identified as many as 120 unused community wells, converted them into recharge wells and created structures to let the rainwater drain into wells from surrounding areas. Also, Metro Water had identified 191 community wells, mostly in housing board areas, and converted them into recharge wells. When asked a Metro Water official, he said that the groundwater level in the city has increased when compared to the previous year due to the measures taken by the government. He added that the city does not have a significant number of unused borewells.

Meanwhile, the civic body has taken up a project to restore 210 water bodies in the city. Out of the 210, restoration of 133 water bodies was completed.