This cop has the model

The system can be set up with just Rs 10,000. It requires a little space. Gaurav Saigal reports.

Want to go for rainwater harvesting but worried about expenditure? Try the model designed by a cop that's cheap and does not require much land to recharge water.

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The model for harvesting rain water and recharging ground water designed and developed by Mahendraa Modi, IG in

How to use a rainwater harvesting system at home

Put an aluminum or a plastic shutter at the mouth of the pipe that drains down rain water from the roof

Allow the water to come down while passing through a mosquito net and then several times through a cotton cloth or a sack. This will filer small items, insects and even dust particles

Allow the water to be collected in a tank and add bleaching powder to it in the ratio of 01 gram per 200 litre of water.

The water is pure for use in bathroom and kitchen

Up to 10,000 litre water can be stored in tanks fitted just above kitchen and bathroom thereby rainwater can be stored and used

A Modi model

Drain the rain or the kitchen water through roof or kitchen pipe, which is fitted with a plastic filter to keep away insect and impurities

Collect water in a silt settlement tank (SST) made underground. Its walls may be plastered

Allow the silt/dirt to deposit

Divert the water from the SST to the main tank, which has to be 10 or 15 feet deep with stones or brick pieces filled in to filter water

The water recharge will be done by seepage through soil and not through pipes. The model will recharge more than double water then the model prescribed by the development authorities

the economics offence wing, requires only Rs 10,000,as compared to the model prescribed by development authorities that costs manifold and requires a lot of land.

"The model prescribed by the development authority is costly and requires labour and large piece of land. My model can be set up by family members within a week's time even in the houses built in less then 200 sq mt area," said Modi while citing loopholes in the model designed by development authorities.

Modi was giving a presentation in the department of physics at Lucknow University on Saturday.

His model has already been successfully implemented in different parts of the state including Bundelkhand region. In Lucknow's Adilnagar, a recharge well has been set up based upon Modi's model.

The development authority model demands the recharge pit to be large in diameter ie at least 25 feet by 25 feet and less in height, roughly three feet.

It also requires boring at two places in the recharge pit to fit two pipes of three inches each for recharging. This wastes a lot of land that each a small family may not be able to afford.

Modi's model, however, demands a smaller area for the pit but a deeper one.

No boring is required as in this model the recharging is done through soil inside the recharge pit that has to be at least 10 feet deep.

"Two houses can have a common recharge well between the plots thereby cutting the cost by half. Even five or more houses can make a bigger version in the centrally located park. My model will work and recharge more water with minimum investment," he said.