Rainwater Harvesting In Chennai: What Made It Work?

Abstract

Sustainable water management is vital for sustainable development, especially in light of threats such as climate change, growing population, rising prosperity and industrialization. India is facing increasing freshwater scarcity, particularly in urban centres such as Chennai, and is struggling to manage water resources. It is widely believed that Chennai has had a very successful experience with rainwater harvesting since its 2002 law mandating it for every building. This article tries to find out what has made RWH work in Chennai, at least to the extent it has worked, as many such policies in our country either tend to fail or at least run a very high risk of failure. The article argues that Chennai has been a case of non-government agents from the public leading the charge to start with and later working with government agents. It is this broad alignment of government and non-government agents that helped make the policy fairly successful. The policy directives essentially reinforced the general practice that was already being followed by local practitioners and experts of RWH. The government aggressively pursued a tight implementation timeline in 2003 to push for rainwater harvesting implementation before north-eastern monsoon. The article examines and provides evidence for the key assumption that RWH is a partial success in Chennai. It also provides evidence for the strong role of non-government agents in making it a successful venture. The article provides valuable insights into achieving sustainable water management in cities in India and elsewhere.