Tamil Nadu rainwater harvesting mandate
Topic: Water Resources of India: Availability, Use and Conservation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "Water Resources"
Meaning
The Tamil Nadu rainwater harvesting mandate is a state law that makes rooftop rainwater harvesting compulsory for every building. Rooftop rainwater harvesting means rain falling on a roof is piped into a storage tank or into a pit that refills the groundwater. Between 2001 and 2003, Tamil Nadu became the first Indian state to make this compulsory. Owners who do not build the structure can be penalised. The mandate matters because it turns harvesting from a choice into a duty, in a state that relies heavily on groundwater.
Example
In Chennai, every house, flat and office must have a rooftop harvesting structure that sends roof water into a sump or recharge well. This matters because Chennai's main reservoirs dried up in June 2019.
Don't confuse with
- Shillong rooftop rainwater harvesting: in Shillong, homes in Meghalaya harvest roof rain by their own choice and meet 15-25% of their needs this way. No law forces them to.
Related concepts
- Rainwater harvesting
- Rooftop rainwater harvesting
- Shillong rooftop rainwater harvesting
- Watershed management
- Check dam
- Percolation tank
- Haryali
- Ralegan Siddhi
- Arvary Pani Sansad