Mizoram tour : Rain harvesting the trend
Source: The Sangai Express / Laishram Shamungou

Imphal, November 26 2010: To solve the problem of water scarcity faced by the people settled atop the mountains, Mizoram Government has been extending its help in constructing water tanks at different places to harvest rain water.

The water, thus, collected is enough to meet the requirement of the people round the year.

With the success of this innovative and convenient approach of rain harvesting, Mizoram Government is planning to construct more such water tanks in other uncovered areas at an estimated project cost of Rs 5 crores from next year.

Although Mizoram receives an annual rainfall of 250 centimetre, people living on the hill tops normally suffer from water scarcity as the rain water runs off quickly down the steep mountain slope.

Harvesting rain water to beat the water scarcity in Mizoram

A media team from Manipur which had recently conducted a tour of Mizoram got a first hand experience of how the Mizos settling on top of the mountain harvest rain water to overcome the problem of water scarcity.

The Government has also chipped in with assistance to help in construction of water tanks at many places for harvesting the rain water for the people as its water supply scheme has limited coverage on account of the topographical feature of the State.

Around 341 villages have been so far brought under the water supply scheme of the Mizoram Govt and over 305 villages, mostly in rural areas, are yet to get the full benefit of the Rural Water Supply Scheme being taken up by the Govt.In addition to this, there are 130 other villages which these schemes have not been able to cover.

In such a situation, Mizoram Govt initiated the project of rain water harvesting since 1986 to solve the problem of water scarcity in these villages.

Today, rain water harvesting tanks are conspicuously present in almost every part of Mizoram.

These tanks have been constructed close to residential areas.

According to an official of Mizoram Govt, Till date, 24,185 rain water harvesting tanks have been constructed with the assistance of Mizoram Government while another 1242 private tanks by individual families.

From next year, Mizoram Govt is planning to construction more tanks at a total estimated cost of Rs 5 crores for harvesting rain water, the official disclosed.

An official of the Public Works Dept, Govt of Mizoram explained that permission for construction of new Govt office buildings is not granted if there is no arrangement for storing the harvested rain water.