Students at a public awareness rally in Aizawl. Picture by Santanu Ghosh

Silchar, Jan. 8: One of the wettest places in the country is having to harvest rainwater to tide over a winter water crisis.

The Mizoram capital of Aizawl receives 219 cm of rain on an average every year, but come winter, the town’s natural water springs go dry.

The Tlawng River, too, becomes a thin line of water after the monsoon is over.

Aizawl, home to more than one-third of the state’s total population of over 8 lakh, has a lone water-treatment plant that can cater to only 80,000 of the town’s population of 2.5 lakh.

The much-hyped greater Aizawl water supply scheme phase-II has been a non-starter.

Work on the Rs 176.57-crore scheme began in 1998, but the fate of the scheme hangs in balance with a report stating that the Mizoram government “whimsically undertook the scheme without a systematic approach”.

The scheme was designed to make available 24.1 million litres of potable water to the residents of the town everyday.

Facing a water crisis winter after winter, the government has taken up rainwater harvesting on a large scale.

The method envisages fitting semicircular rain gutters fabricated with galvanised sheets to the eaves of roofs to collect rainwater, which are to be stored in reservoirs for use during the dry season.

Rainwater harvesting in Aizawl began during the Eighties. The government has provided about 15,000 rainwater tanks in the state capital and its suburbs. Residents have installed another 50,000 tanks.

Former public health engineering (PHE) department chief engineer Dunglena is acknowledged as the pioneer in popularising the concept of rainwater harvesting in the state.

He said a 10-metre long and 5-metre wide tank made of either reinforced cement concrete or galvanised corrugated iron sheets can store 1,25,000 litres of water.

“It can be used for 120 days during the winter by a family of eight with each member using 45 litres everyday,” he said.

The government announced a slew of rainwater harvesting schemes in 2003, which was the International Year of Freshwater.