Guest lecture on Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting at ARS, Tornala on 04-01-2020

As a part of creating awareness on effective rain water management, a guest lecture on “Roof top rain water harvesting and recharging of borewells” was organized by ARS, Tornala on 04-01-2020. The lecture was delivered by Dr. M.V.S.S. Giridhar, Professor, Centre for Water Resources, Institute of Science and Technology, JNTU, Hyderabad at ARS, Tornala. He spoke about importance of water in sustenance of life. The speaker has enlightened the scientists and students of ARS and APT, Tornala with regard to methods of rain water harvesting (rooftop based and land based), storage and reuse of the same. He further explained in detail about the design for roof top rain water harvesting and construction or utilization of existing water storage sumps for harvesting and storing of rain water. He added saying that the stored rain water can be utilized for either domestic or drinking purposes or both, depending on the need. However, he cautioned regarding cleaning of rooftop at least once a year to avoid impurities and dust coming into storage tanks. Further he also explained two success stories which includes harvesting of 10 crore litres of water per annum through various rain water harvesting and storage structures in JNTU campus, Hyderabad and decline in fluoride content to below threshold limit in drinking water in three Zilla Parishad High schools with the help of recharge of borewells and rooftop rain water harvesting. He also estimated a possibility of harvesting 4.6 lakh litres of water at ARS, Tornala and 18 lakh litres at APT, Tornala through roof top water harvesting from office buildings. Dr. A.V. Ramanjaneyulu, Sr. Scientist (Agro.) & Head, ARS, Tornala explained about significance of water saying that it is an elixir of life and also the need for enhancing the water use efficiency in Agriculture. He also added saying that water saved is water produced, hence, utmost care has to be taken to conserve but not to waste or contaminate the water resources. It is the responsibility of each and every citizen to safeguard and utilize water resources in a sustainable manner. Dr. S. Sridevi, Principal and students, APT, Tornala thanked the speaker for enlightening the staff and students about harvesting rain water and it’s efficient utilization. The scientists of ARS, Tornala Mrs. A. Saritha, Dr. N. Sainath, D. Sravanthi, Dr. E. Umarani and two Assistant professors from APT, Tornala Mr. M. Saicharan and A. Satish along with 53 students have participated in the programme.