Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik Park Gets Rainwater Harvesting System

Bhubaneswar: Biju Patnaik Park, popular as Forest Park, became the first such facility to get a rainwater harvesting (RWH) system.

With the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) stressing water conservation and ground water recharge in the State Capital to reduce water-logging, this RWH is seen as a step towards making the city flooding-free in the future.

The RWH structure at Biju Patnaik Park is a land-based system, and a total of nine recharge pits have been constructed. The system spreads over an area of 22 acres, a BDA release stated.

A recharge pit is 1.5 metre wide and 1.5 metre deep. One recharge well is recommended for 1/4 hectare. All the surface runoff is filtered and led into the recharge well. In summer, the water can be drawn for irrigation purpose. The RWH structures at the Biju Patnaik Park was installed at a cost of Rs 11 lakh.

“The purpose of putting up rainwater harvesting structures in parks is to recharge the ground water. Usually, a huge quantity of rainwater goes into drains and wasted. With little planning and expenditure, we can easily stop the waste of this precious resource and use it for recharging the ground water on a massive scale,” said BDA Chief Engineer-cum-Engineer Member, Rajendra Kumar Nayak.