ISLAMABAD: A half-hearted effort has been made by the civic body to reinforce an important but overlooked clause of its building bylaws to compel citizens for building of a rainwater harvesting system in their units. After unseen pressure from environmentalists working in the city for the adoption of alternative sources of water to overcome its ongoing scarcity, the Building Control Section (BCS) of the Capital Development Authority has at last decided to conduct a survey regarding rainwater harvesting tanks in residential units. Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting and storing of rainwater from rooftops and land runoff through a system of pipes and tanks in a building and then using it as an alternative or complementary source to mains water. As per the section 4.1.2 of the Islamabad Residential Sector Zoning (Building Control) Regulations 2005 of CDA, the rainwater harvesting is mandatory on plots 400 square yards and above. The aforementioned decision to conduct a survey by the BCS has been taken after observing that most of the owners are not constructing rain harvesting tanks at their sites. “All deputy directors are directed to immediately direct the concerned building inspectors to undertake survey of all sectoral areas under their jurisdiction and compile data of rain harvesting tanks and issue notices to violators of this mandatory requirement”, a letter issued by the Director BCS stated. Islamabad is the first planned city of this country, but unfortunately with the rapid growth of population the water scarcity has become one of the major problems in the city. Currently, it is facing a shortage of 75 million gallons per day (mg/d) as the daily need is 125 mg/d while supply is only 50 mg/d. The idea to construct rainwater harvesting tanks was introduced by some environmentalists in the era of former CDA chairman, Imtiaz Inayat Elahi., They were also successfully managed to be included in the by-laws of the civic agency making it obligatory for every owner to arrange rain harvesting in their building. However, this by-law is not being implemented in the capital. An insider of the BCS said that the move was just an eye wash and nothing would be materialised as nobody was serious in taking long term steps — neither the authority nor the owners. He however commented; “Though, it’s not a complete solution, but the re-use of rainwater can help to overcome the issue of water shortage in Islamabad.” It is pertinent to mention that according to a World Bank report, Pakistan is among 17 countries that may face severe water shortage by the year 2025. The per capita water availability has already dropped dramatically over the last 60 years. In this situation, the reuse of waste water would be a viable option to meet the water shortage. It is the need of hour that the civic body should not confine itself only up to the issuance of notices, but ensure implementation of bylaws by forcing citizens to adopt rainwater harvesting systems in their homes. “We are not going to become too harsh towards citizens in the first go, but at least the issuance of notices to the violators would create an awareness about the bylaws’ provision and in the next phase it would be implemented in letter and spirit”, said Member Planning and Design CDA, Asad Mehboob Kiani.