Satyendar Jain said he wanted to witness the system himself as he was sceptical of the model.
The Delhi government will adopt the cost-effective model of rainwater harvesting currently being implemented in the tribal-dominated Dungarpur district of Rajasthan, city Water Minister Satyendar Jain has said.
A seven-member delegation, led by Satyendar Jain, was on an official visit here to witness the rainwater-harvesting system that costs just Rs 16,000 as compared to the conventional one, which costs between Rs 50,000 and Rs one lakh per household.
Satyendar Jain said the Dungarpur model was an innovative idea that was centred on routing the rainwater to a bore well, instead of a regular rainwater-harvesting pit.
"It is a closed-loop system. The rainwater collected on the rooftop is being routed to the casing of already existing bore wells in households. They have created sand filters in the conduit pipe itself and included a way of backwash too," he told PTI.
Satyendar Jain said he wanted to witness the system himself as he was sceptical of the model when KK Gupta, the chairman of the Dungar Municipal Council, first told him about it.
"I am satisfied now. It is an excellent system. We are going to implement it in Delhi, others should follow it too," the minister said.
"Normally, the construction of a rainwater harvesting system costs between Rs 50,000 and Rs one lakh, but the one being implemented in Dungarpur costs just Rs 16,000," he added.
KK Gupta claimed that there will be no shortage of water in Delhi if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government implements the Dungarpur model of water harvesting in the national capital.
"The minister could not believe it when I first told him that we have developed a water harvesting system that costs only Rs 16,000. In Delhi, the administration spent lakhs on creating large rainwater-harvesting pits."
"Delhi reels under a shortage of water. The issue will be resolved 100 per cent if the city implements this model," he said.
KK Gupta said the Dungarpur administration gives a 50-per cent subsidy per household for installing a rainwater harvesting system.
"Effectively, it costs Rs 8,000 per household. We have covered around 400 households and government buildings in the last three years," he said.
A government official in Dungarpur said the construction of large water-harvesting pits is not an economically sustainable idea.
"Our concept focuses on making the rainwater harvesting system affordable so that more and more people can use it.
"Not everyone has the means to pay for an expensive rainwater harvesting system, so most people avoid creating one. The one we have developed cuts the cost drastically and does its job effectively," he said.
The official said the system can collect and route 3,000 litres of water per hour if the rainfall is light to moderate.
The conventional system has more storage capacity and the speed of groundwater recharge is slightly better, but most people do not take it up as it is expensive.
"If we wanted to create a conventional rainwater harvesting system in Dungarpur, hardly 10 people would have agreed to it," he said.