S Lalitha By Express News Service BENGALURU: Despite the best efforts by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to save water through rainwater harvesting (RWH) in the city, at least one-third of house owners opt to pay a penalty every month rather than adopt it. To counter this mentality and popularise RWH, a college in JP Nagar has volunteered to promote it through an extensive door-to-door campaign across the city, which is likely to commence in December. The VET BVL Polytechnic is in the process of setting up a 20-member team of students from various streams such as computer science, civil engineering and fashion technology, Principal G Sreelatha told The New Indian Express. BWSSB Chief Public Relations Officer B M Manjunath, said, “This is the first time college students are joining hands with BWSSB to help us in our mission to improve the city. We are calling them water warriors.” Explaining the reasons behind their initiative, Sreelatha said, “The Sir M Visvesvaraya Rainwater Theme Harvesting Park in Jayanagar 5th Block is an outstanding venture by the BWSSB. It showcases the concept of RWH and the methodologies to be adopted to install them. Many of our students have visited the spot. They have also witnessed a group of senior citizens converting waste into compost at BTM Layout. We want to share these with many people and so we wrote to the BWSSB.” Manandi N Suresh, honorary secretary of Vasavi Educational Trust, which runs the polytechnic, is said to be the brain behind the idea. B C Gangadhar, chief engineer, maintenance, BWSSB, told TNIE that 1,21,372 houses have installed RWH structures while 65,000 houses do not have them. Levying of penalty began from August 2016 and the board earns up to Rs 3 crore a month through penalty. To force Bengalureans to adopt RWH in their homes, the board has even sent a proposal to double the present penalty.

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