Question : Rain Water Harvesting

Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state :

(a) Whether the Ministry has conducted/proposes to conduct any assessment of rain water harvesting capacity, existing infrastructure, volume of accumulated water and quality of water harvested in various cities in the country;

(b) If so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) Whether the States have proposed different rules for rain water harvesting where rooftop sizes for mandatory structures range from 100 sq. mts. to 300 mts; and

(d) If so, the manner in which the Ministry proposes to measure the effectiveness of such rules for different States?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
(SHRI HARDEEP SINGH PURI)

(a)&(b) : No, Madam, there is no such proposal. Monitoring of Rain Water Harvesting comes within the purview of State Governments/Urban Local Bodies. However, various

advisories in this regard have been issued to States /UTs by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) and the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation has issued advisories on the subject.


(c) & (d): Ministry of Housing Urban Affairs has released Model Building Bye Laws 2016 which advocates for a plot size of 100 sq. meter or more to have Rain Water Harvesting provision. All the State Governments, barring Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim, have incorporated the provision of rainwater harvesting in their respective Bye Laws. However, the minimum size of the plot varies from state to state depending on local conditions. Further, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under its flagship scheme, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) mandates the State Governments to formulate the policy and the action plan for having the rain water harvesting structures in all commercial, public and new buildings on plots of 300 sq. meters and above.

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