Govt to revive rainwater harvesting systems in 75 schools, aiming to save 50 crore liters of water.

The Delhi government has decided to revive the existing rainwater harvesting systems across the 75 CM Shri Schools in the national capital. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Thursday that the initiative is expected to create an annual rainwater harvesting capacity of nearly 50 crore litres.

A detailed presentation on the project was recently made before the CM, outlining the current condition of rainwater harvesting structures in the schools, the shortcomings identified during inspections, and the roadmap for restoring these structures.
Gupta said the government’s objective is to strengthen rainwater conservation, improve groundwater recharge, and foster greater awareness about water conservation, especially among students and also the wider community.

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A comprehensive audit of rainwater harvesting infrastructure in 75 CM Shri Schools has already been conducted as part of the exercise.

Highlighting the importance of rainwater harvesting, Gupta said Delhi receives an average annual rainfall of about 775 mm, and a rooftop area of roughly 2,500 square feet can conserve nearly 2,00,000 litres of rainwater every year. She noted that this quantity can meet the annual water needs of a family of five, adding that the harvested water can be used for drinking, gardening, cleaning, flushing and several other purposes.

According to the CM, the government will adopt the ‘Ehsaas’ model for rainwater harvesting in schools.

This model was approved by the Delhi Jal Board in the year 2021, and is known for its low cost, minimal space requirement and near-zero maintenance.

Under the system, rainwater collected from rooftops will be filtered and connected to storage units and bore-wells, helping recharge groundwater and even revive dry bore-wells.
CM informed that technical teams have completed inspections of all 75 schools and submitted their reports, and the audit found that most schools had rainwater harvesting systems in place, but many remained non-functional for years.

In some cases, school authorities were unaware that such structures even existed on their premises, while the inspection also revealed that rainwater was flowing directly into drains at many locations, defeating the purpose of water conservation.
The government has accordingly prepared a corrective plan to restore the systems and make them functional again.

An effective rooftop rainwater harvesting system will also be installed in every school to facilitate rainwater storage and groundwater recharge.
According to Gupta, school rooftops alone have the potential to conserve nearly 130 million litres of rainwater annually, while the total catchment capacity across the 75 schools could reach around 50 Crore litres each year.

As part of the campaign, awareness workshops on water conservation will be organised for students, teachers and parents in all participating schools.