LIQUID LESSON: Students of Krishnagar Collegiate School help set up percolation pits on the school premises
The students of Krishnagar Collegiate School have adopted rainwater harvesting. Raes Biswas, a Class VI student, was part of the group of students and teachers that worked to harvest rainwater collected on the rooftop of the school building and other concrete surfaces within the school precincts by setting up percolation or soak pits. “These pits are designed to manage surface water, cut down runoff and prevent waterlogging,” says Raes. “They allow the water to seep into the ground and replenish the water table,” he adds.
In the fertile Gangetic region of West Bengal, including urban areas such as Calcutta and Sundarbans delta, groundwater is fast depleting due to unregulated extraction and insufficient recharge. Dependence on groundwater for irrigation, domestic use and industrial use is contributing to excessive consumption. Rapid urbanisation, encroachment of water bodies and expansion of concrete surfaces impede natural groundwater recharge. “In this situation, rainwater harvesting and other artificial methods of recharging are essential,” says Karunakar Reddy, a water conservationist based in Hyderabad.
Manoranjan Biswas, the headmaster of the school, said the water collected through the pits is redirected into a deep well that carries the water to the aquifer, a layer of porous rock or sediment supposed to store groundwater. “To drive home the importance of water conservation, we collaborated with experts of civil society group Save Jalangi,” he says. “They trained our students to collect rainwater while explaining the science behind the process,” he adds.
Dr Jatan Kumar Raychaudhuri is the president of Save Jalangi, which was founded six years ago to protect rivers, canals, wetlands and groundwater in Nadia district. He explained to The Telegraph why it was necessary to recharge or replenish aquifers. Dr Raychaudhuri said a recent assessment by the Central Groundwater Board had revealed that aquifers in 10 out of 18 blocks in the district were going dry. Nadia, as well as neighbouring Murshidabad district, is extremely vulnerable to both droughts and floods, according to a nationwide District Level Climate Risk Assessment study by the Indian Institutes of Technology in Mandi and Guwahati. Rainwater harvesting helps manage both.
Dr Raychaudhuri says, “First, we worked with students of Krishnagar Vidyapith Girls High School where two large pits for harvesting rainwater from the school’s roof and courtyard were installed. Then several other schools in Krishnanagar city as well as schools such as Jalalkhali Primary School, Jalalkhali Junior High School and Joypur Primary School urged us to implement rainwater harvesting on their premises.”
Rumela Khatun, a Class X student at Akshaya Vidyapith Girls’ High School in Krishnanagar, recounts how they would divert rainwater through a pipe into deep crevasses in the ground. She says, “We’d read about this in our environment science textbook, but turning the theory into practice was quite an exciting experience.” Headmistress Sagarika Dasgupta was impressed that the water harvesting techniques solved the problem of regular waterlogging at the school gate and prevented erosion. “The best part is that it turns children into responsible citizens who learn to value water conservation,” she says.
And it’s not just schools in Krishnanagar, some colleges in Calcutta too have started harvesting rainwater. Says Adreeja Das, a second-year student of geography at Women’s Christian College, “It was like a practical class on rain harvesting.” Teacher-in-charge Kushal A. Biswas agrees, “The initiative offered them hands-on learning, brought them closer to real-world solutions. It also fostered a sense of ecological responsibility.” Water harvested on the college campus is used in toilets and also to recharge groundwater.
Schools should teach do-it-yourself rainwater harvesting through an immersive, hands-on curriculum, following a community-driven approach among students, believes Reddy. He suggests school administrators begin with interactive lessons on water cycles and build rooftop structures for water harvesting. As practical projects, students build gutter-connected barrels or recharge pits. “These hands-on techniques of rainwater harvesting can help students become stewards of a water-secure future,” he says. Schools can start with existing infrastructure, leveraging rooftops and playgrounds, and seek community or government support to keep costs low while maximising impact.
According to Reddy, the government should integrate practical rainwater harvesting into the school syllabus. “Including basic techniques of water harvesting in science or environmental studies, with hands-on projects as assessments, would align with national efforts such as Tamil Nadu’s mandate to empower students to recharge aquifers and reduce flooding, fostering a generation of leaders in sustainability.”
Schools in Chennai have already adopted rooftop systems, saving millions of litres of water annually. Karnataka has equipped 23,683 schools with harvesting units by training teachers and students.
Now, it is West Bengal’s turn.