Sometimes back Ranchi was known as the city of ponds. Every area by then had a pond and people of a particular area had to depend on the pond of that area for their water requirements. The city has 42 ponds just five years ago. There was shortage of water in these ponds in summer seasons only, but no one of these ponds ever dried. But now 22 ponds have dried completely till the first week of the June month.
Among dried ponds, Nayak Talab, Tupudana Talab, Tiril Talab, Hatia Talab, Hesag Talab, and Kadru Talab are some of the main ponds. These ponds dry up suddenly. Rain fills up these ponds but after rains the water of these ponds disappear suddenly. Besides these, other ponds too are about to dry.
People developed buildings and apartments but without any system of rain water harvesting. The city had a population of 29 lakh about 11 years ago but now that population has crossed the number of 35 lakhs. This condition is certainly creating immense forces on our ecological resources.
About 22 ponds were beautified but the concrete border around these ponds reduced their lives and they dried off. When Ranchi had more than 100 ponds people got water even at the depth of 30 feet. More that 7 ponds have so far been converted into apartments.
The municipal Corporation of Ranchi started beautification of ponds some years back. Ponds became clean and beautiful, but both the internal and external sources of water were blocked by concrete. Ponds started drying up. Now the corporation is reversing its decision of using concrete in the beautification of ponds.
There are about 2.5 lakh buildings and apartments in the city. Out of these only 19000 buildings and apartments have rain water harvesting systems. Rain water system is mandatory for those houses having roof area more than 3000 sq. feet.
Deep boring in these buildings has caused the water table to go very deep. The lower water table has led to drying of ponds. Rain water harvesting system has been started in nine wards but it is yet to complete. The municipal corporation has planned to make at least 6 rain water harvesting systems in all wards of the city. 318 rain water harvesting systems are to be made in 53 wards so as to maintain the water level.
Now, many areas of the city have been declared as the red zones. Rain water harvesting is a system of collection of rain water. This water is filtered and used or this water is allowed to go deep inside the earth to recharge the water table. Rain water harvesting is not being installed due to carelessness of the public. Municipal corporation has planned to spend 241 crore on water supply this year.
