Shimla's British-era building champions rainwater harvesting

The beautiful building housing the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), which was built way back in 1888, has been harvesting rainwater for more than 100 years now. Large tankers store over 1.2 million gallons of rainwater, which is more than enough to maintain the building's beautiful gardens throughout the year.

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh):At a time when the entire world is battling water scarcity, a colonial-era building in Shimla has set the right example by harvesting rainwater for over 100 years.

Thousands of tourists come to visit the beautiful Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) and take in the sight of lush greenery surrounding the building.

As part of ETV Bharat's Water Conservation series, let us take a look at the system which maintains the greenery around the building throughout the year.

Today, water conservation is a challenge around the world. But the British had worked towards overcoming this challenge way back in 1888, when this building was built.

Akhilesh Pathak, IIAS PRO, explained that rainwater harvesting was conceptualised here at the time of the building's construction way back in 1888.

"The thought was that rain falling on the roof should not be wasted. Rainwater makes its way through pipes to the large underground tankers. Enough water is stored in the tanks for the entire year," he said.

IIAS is spread over 99 acres, 30 acres of which comprises of lush green gardens. As many as six underground tanks have been built in which rainwater is collected. Out of these, four large tanks have a capacity of 1.2 million gallons and this water is used throughout the year to maintain the gardens throughout the year.

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"All this water is used in nurseries. The water proves extremely useful in summers when there is a shortage," said Abhishek Dalvi, SO, Horticulture IIAS.

Remarkably, the greenery here remained intact even in 2018, when Shimla suffered a severe water crisis - all thanks to this water harvesting system.

Experts believe that every year about 80 per cent of the rainwater gets washed away, a large part of which can be conserved even though water conservation is difficult on the mountains as compared to the plains.

The water conservation system, which has been working since 1888, has been upgraded over time. Officials believe the system can be applied at other places in order to conserve the precious gift of water.

"This is an example for others to follow the concept of rainwater harvesting. Instead of wasting water and then utilising more energy to draw water from other sources, it is better to store the water that nature has been gifting us," Pathak said.

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