The area in which Mumbai-based Chetan Soorenji lives initially had one borewell for three houses.
As the number of houses increased, so did the number of borewells and their depths. Initially, the depth of a borewell was 30 feet, but soon it grew to 80-100 feet.
“Even the borewell in my house was 100 feet deep. But during summer, we faced water scarcity. The situation was similar to each of the residents in our area,” says Chetan, who is an employee with a multinational company.
Concerned about the dropping groundwater levels, Chetan installed a rainwater harvester and borewell recharging system.
He connected the roof of his house to the 30-feet deep borewell through a pipe, so that the rainwater from the roof went straight into it.
Additionally, he also built a percolation pit that collects the roof water in a pit, which helps recharge the groundwater level.
Chetan also connected the outlet pipe of his air conditioner to this pit, which transfers around 25-30 litres of water per day during summer.
He connected two pipes to the vacant land lying near his house so that the rainwater goes straight into the ground instead of the drain.
Thanks to all these efforts, Chetan was able to resolve the problem of water salinity and increase the recharge of the borewell benefitting him and his neighbours.
Moreover, his initiatives have helped the nearby water springs which had run dry due to the heightened real estate development activity in the vicinity.