Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to implement underground rainwater harvesting.
KMC has identified nearly 90 areas across 144 wards for this purpose where typically waterlogging happens during monsoon and water needs to be pumped out.
Till now, rainwater harvesting has been done on the rooftops of high-rises. This makes KMC the first municipality in eastern India to embark on underground rainwater harvesting.
Rainwater will be stored in two separate chambers 10 meters below he ground where it will be filtered.
This will benefit Kolkata in two ways. First, waterlogging can be managed to some extent in low-lying areas.
Secondly, many areas in Kolkata still extensively use tube wells in many wards. This is leading to a shrinking of underground water levels, including even impacted by arsenic.
Underground rainwater harvesting will take care of these challenges to a significant extent with the replenishment of the groundwater level.
There will.be an open.pipe above ground. Through this pipe, the rainwater will be deposited in the 7 by 4.5 ft chamber 10 meters underground.
Once the unfiltered water is settled, it will.be stored in the micro chamber next to it. Once the water is filtered in the second phase, it will be mixed with underground water.
Baghbazar and Amherst Street in North Kolkata and Ballygunge Phari, Chetla, Kalighat, Judges Court Road and Garden Reach have been identified for this project.
The borough chairpersons will be involved in identifying these particular spots.
If the KMC project succeeds, other municipalities in the state might follow.
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