The National Water Mission’s (NWM) campaign called “Catch the Rain” will be launched in states and is set to nudge the stakeholders.
About the campaign
The campaign has the tagline “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”. The campaign will help in creating the appropriate Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) which are suitable for the climatic conditions and subsoil strata before the monsoon make its fall. The campaign will run the drives to make check dams, rooftop RWHS, water harvesting pits, desilting of tanks to increase its storage capacity and removal of encroachments. It will also help in removing obstructions in channels, repairs to step-wells etc. All these activities will be taken up by active participation of people.
How these activities will be facilitated?
The government has requested the state governments to open Rain Centres in each district, collectorates or Municipalities or Gram Panchayats in order to facilitate these activities. These centres will have a dedicated mobile phone number during this period. The centres will be manned by an engineer or a person who is well trained in the RWHS. The centre will act as a technical guidance centre in all the district and raise awareness as to how to catch the rain, when it falls, where it falls.
Aim of the campaign
The campaign will be launched with the aim and effort to ensure that buildings in the district have rooftop RWHS so that maximum quantity of rain water falling in any compound is impounded within it. It also seeks to ensure that, no or only limited water flows out of the compound. This would help in improving soil moisture and rising the ground water table. Further, it will reduce the accumulation of water on the roads in urban areas.