2. Shri Hirak Ghosh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Environment, Govt. of West Bengal and Chairrman, West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB)
3. Dr. S. K. Sarkar, IAS, Member Secretary, WBPCB
4. Shri S Barari, CEO, Deptt. of Environment, Govt. of West Bengal
5. Shri B. K. Basu, Chief Engineer, WBPCB
6. Shri Santi Kumar Chattopadhyay, State Sanitation Cell, State Institute of Panchayats and Rural Development (SIPRD)
7. Shri Sandeep Kumar, Hydrogeologist, Fontus Water Ltd.
8. Shri Suneet Kaul, Assistant Manager, Fontus Water Ltd.
9. Dr. Debashis Chakraborty, Scientist ,WBPCB
10. Smt Rita Dutta, AEE, WBPCB
11. Shri Sudip Bhattacharya, AEE, WBPCB
12. Smt. Avanti Roy, Environment Officer (Comm.), WBPCB

This meeting was held on 13^th November 2003 at the Chairmans chamber, Paribesh Bhawan to discuss the feasibility of taking up projects on rainwater harvesting in West Bengal. Shri Hirak Ghosh, Principal Secretary, Department of Environment and Chairman, West Bengal Pollution Control Board chaired the meeting.

The issues discussed and the decisions taken in the meeting, were as follows:

2. The Chairman briefed the participants that there is need to explore the feasibility of implementing a few projects on rainwater harvesting for government buildings, school buildings and other commercial buildings in Kolkata.
3. The representatives of M/s Fontus Water Ltd stated that they had implemented some projects based on the recharge of groundwater by means of rainwater in Delhi, and even for one project in Kolkata.
4. It was decided that Fontus Water Ltd will hold discussions with the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HIDCO), which is the implementing agency of the new township at Rajarhat, for taking up projects on rainwater harvesting for the township.
5. It was also decided that the Board would organise a workshop on rainwater harvesting, that will be held on 19^th/20^th of December at Paribesh Bhawan, Kolkata. Organisations such as the Central Ground Water Board, the State Water Resource Investigation Deptt., the Deptt.of Municipal Affairs, the Deptt. of Public Health Engineering and HIDCO would be invited as participants for the workshop.
6. Doubts persisted about the usefulness of recharging groundwater in Kolkata as the water table had gone down during the past years and consequently a high cost might be involved in recharging the groundwater. In this regard, it was decided that small projects could be taken up for direct use of rainwater harvesting from rooftop.
7. The Chairman suggested that Shri B. K. Basu, Chief Engineer, WBPCB and Smt Rita Dutta, AEE, WBPCB would be visiting places like Delhi, where projects on rainwater harvesting have been implemented successfully. They were also requested to visit places in Kolkata, such as Pouro Bhawan and Bidannagar College, where pilot projects on rainwater harvesting could be taken up.
8. The decision on whether to recharge groundwater or use the rainwater for direct use depends on factors such as hydrogeology of the place or the rainfall of that particular area. Thus, the results of such visits to be made by the WBPCB officers would help arrive at a decision, as to which method could be adopted, depending on the feasibility of adopting such methods.

The meeting ended with thanks to the chair.

Sd/-

Dr S K Sarkar

Member Secretary

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