Rainwater harvesting at Govt Higher Primary School, Sonnappanahalli
Basic information about the school
| Name of school | Government Higher Primary School, Sonnappanahalli |
| Contact information | Mr Venkate Gowda (Headmaster) |
| Number of students | 360 |
| Classes | 1st – 8th std |
| Number of faculty | 12 teachers, 6 non-teaching staff |
| Type of school | Co-educational, Kannada medium |
| Campus details | 7 buildings (2 new), 2 toilet blocks, 1 handwash station, 1 drinking water station, playground. Anganwadi in 2 buildings, midday meals from Akshayapatra |
| Funding for the project | Rooftop RWH at school – Puravankara Ltd Rooftop RWH at Anganwadi, water literacy sessions, water quality learning centre and handwash station – ITC MSK Recharge wells (2) – Athaang Devanahalli Tollways Pvt Ltd |
Google Map view of the School
Before intervention
- Water received from the panchayat borewell 3 – 4 times a week, tankers when needed
- Daily water demand is 5000 litres, for handwashing, washing plates and the toilets – works out to 13.2 lpcd, which is much below the BIS 1993 standards of 45 lpcd
- Drinking water is obtained from two RO plants installed on the school premises by DrinkPrime
- Two old sump tanks near the entrance – each of 28300 litres – one is not in use, other is backup. Four overhead tanks on different blocks
- Open well of 16.5 ft x 35 ft – water used in toilets. Fell to disuse later on
New buildings
Toilet blocks
Open well to be rejuvenated
RWH system implementation details
- Rooftop rainwater harvesting system on the two new school buildings with rooftop area of 2554 sft, giving an annual harvestable runoff of 208100 litres
- New sump tank of 10 ft x 6 ft x 7 ft with a capacity of around 12000 litres
- Custom-built masonry filter of capacity 765 litres
- Harvested rainwater is used in the toilets, for washing hands and plates, cleaning and watering the garden
- Overflow from sump tank goes into recharge well of 4 ft x 15 ft, which started holding water that was pumped and used for all non-potable purposes
- Another recharge well of the same size near compound wall receives surface runoff
Design diagram showing the RWH system components
- Rainwater harvesting system at the Anganwadi done by Myrada with funding from ITC MSK
- Parapets were constructed, and downtake pipes were added
- Roof area is 840 sft – annually 68 KL of rainwater is harvested and stored in a 10 KL sump tank, which meets 68 days of water demand
- Panchayat later installed a pump
Anganwadi with RWH filter on the left
Other interventions
- Flow restrictors that reduce tap’s flow rate from 15 L/min to 7 L/min were installed on nine taps in the school’s handwash area
- An aerator was installed on one tap
- Handwash area has been enclosed by a grill that can be locked, in order to prevent pilferage and vandalism
- Water Quality Learning Centre has been set up – teachers and students have been trained in water quality testing, and test kits have been given
- Walls and rainwater filters have been painted with information about the RWH system and its maintenance
Flow restrictor
Areator
Handwash area grill enclosure
Wall painting on the school anganwadi
- ITC’s Parisara Habba was conducted at the school campus
ITC's Parisara Habba at the school
Visit by Swiss students
Visit by German students
Visit by stakeholders from Hoskote
- The success of such systems depends on regular and proper maintenance
- It is important for the implementing NGO to follow up with the school once in a while and keep reminding them about the maintenance of the RWH system
- It is worthwhile investing in a dedicated maintenance team for this and other maintenance required in the school
Here are the detailed case study, the poster and the English and Kannada videos.
Performance of system and learnings
- The system is being used for water literacy activities at the school
- Students are actively involved in operating and maintaining the system
- This project has been used as a showcase project for training plumbers
- Different groups of people have visited the school – students from a Swiss University, panchayat officials from Hoskote, etc
- ITC’s Parisara Habba was conducted at the school campus
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