The rain water harvesting system at Little Flower School. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, July 8: Rotary Club of Jamshedpur in association with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd today inaugurated a rainwater harvesting system at Little Flower School, Telco, the 35th such school where the system was introduced.

The project’s first phase was started in 2006 with 10 schools. LFS was part of the second phase, which started in 2008 with 25 schools.

S.B. Borwankar, plant head of Tata Motors, inaugurated the system with an annual groundwater recharge potential of 5.8 lakh litres and a deep borewell of 190 ft.

“The main aim of targeting schools is to spread awareness among children which will eventually multiply through parents and friends. The ultimate purpose is to conserve water to be used in times of scarcity,” said Ronald D’Costa, former district governor of Rotary district 3250, which is associated with the project.

The project cost is estimated to be around Rs 70,000 per school, shared by the beverage major and the schools in a 65:35 ratio. Rotary Club of Jamshedpur acts as the implementing agency of the project.

A major challenge in installing rainwater harvesting systems is low profit margins for contractors, who are therefore reluctant to take up the job. However, Rotary International persevered in reaching the project to 35 schools.

Loyola, Kerala Public School, Gyandeep, Jamshedpur Public School, Gulmohur, Vidya Jyoti, Sidhu Kanhu, DBMS, St Joseph’s and Hill Top School are some institutions that have implemented the system in the last two years.

“Anticipating severe water crisis in the future, many organisations have encouraged schools and institutions to become active water conservationists and recharge existing underground water resources through rainwater harvesting,” said D’Costa.