Outgoing Manager at the National Water & Sewerage Authority (NAWASA) Christopher Husbands has given cautious support to the passage of legislation that makes it mandatory for construction projects of a certain size to be required to put in their own water system in order to lessen the burden on the state company.
Speaking to THE NEW TODAY on Wednesday, Husbands said there is merit in the suggestion but indicated that there are “certain qualifications that need to go into that” before making it a requirement.
“I do believe that we should encourage more rain water harvesting but then we also have to put in complimentary quality control and regulatory mechanisms to ensure that the rain water harvesting benefits us and doesn’t become a potential source of liability,” he said.
“So conceptually I agree with it but I believe that it requires more work than I think some persons have considered (and) just saying make everybody put in a rain water tap. I believe that it needs to be done and I think there needs to be more work done to roll it out than some of the initiatives I have heard at the surface,” he added.
Some experts have been pointing at several advantages when it comes to Rainwater Harvesting for households and businesses on the island.
These include reducing the water bill, decreases in the demand for water, promotes both water and energy conservation, does not require a filtration system for landscape irrigation, the technology is relatively simple, easy to install and operate, reduces soil erosion, stormwater runoff, flooding, and pollution of surface water with fertilizers, pesticides, metals and other sediments.
Another advantage is that rain water is an excellent source of water for landscape irrigation with no chemicals, dissolved salts and free from all minerals.
However, some of the Disadvantages of Rainwater Harvesting are associated with the fact that regular maintenance is required, limited and no rainfall can limit the supply of rainwater, if not installed correctly, it may attract mosquitoes and other waterborne diseases.
In addition, one of the significant drawbacks of the rainwater harvesting system is storage limits.