Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Here is an article from back in the June from the Hindu that i particularly liked. It talks about how the Volvo factory in Bangalore is doing its bit to conserve water, through rain water harvesting and recycling water for use in the garden and toilets.
Here is an excerpt:
Its time to reduce the water footprint.
On the World Environment Day (June 5), I was at the Volvo Construction Equipment factory in a suburb of Bangalore. Many in the team planted trees but what was exceptional was the effort put in by employees to manage water. Below the parking area a huge rooftop rainwater harvesting tank has been created. This can hold up to 2.5 million litres i.e. every drop of rainwater falling on the large rooftops. This provides for almost four months of the total water requirement of the unit. There is also recharge of groundwater which enables the three borewells on site to provide the rest of the water needs of the factory. A 20 kilolitre per day waste-water treatment plant treats all the effluent generated on site and this is reused for landscaping requirements and for toilet flushing. The factory has shown itself to be independent of the city's water and sanitation network and has reduced its water footprint to zero.
This is exceptional integrated urban water management in practice.
In a recent visit to the northwestern united states i say several 'stormwater ponds' to harvest the water from runoffs in urban areas. It is nice to see these places, testaments of conservation efforts, that also double up to serve as areas for the natural biodiversity of the region to flourish.