Vellore doctor parks his cars over 60K litres of water
Kamini.Mathai@timesgroup.com
1.7.2019
Hit by the water crisis in 2015, Dr Kandasamy Subramani decided he was not going to be caught off guard again. So the professor and head of intensive care at Christian Medical College, Vellore, got started on building a sump under his car park. And now, says Dr Subramani, the car park supplies the water his family needs for at least nine months of the year, while allowing for two cars to be parked in the space.
“In 2015 we had to buy water. In our gated community, we started rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater. And that’s why I decided to increase the amount of rainwater conserved at my house,” says Dr Subramani. “We have 100sqm of roof area, and according to the research I did, I found that for every 1sqm of roof area you get 1 litre of water if there is 1mm of rain. The average rainfall in Vellore is 800 to 900mm a year, which means I get 70-90,000 litres a year,” he says.
“We use this water for eight to nine months a year. Even when we have a lot of guests staying over,” says his wife Sathya, a professor of physiology.
Drainage pipes from the roof and gutters over the car shed are connected to the 60,000-litre capacity tank under the car park. Dr Subramani uses a two-step filtration method. “We have two separate tanks at different heights. One has charcoal and the other has gravel and river sand. The first removes the organic matter and the second filters the water further,” says Dr Subramani who also uses solar power and grows a roof top garden.
HIDDEN TREASURE: The car park of Vellore resident Dr K Subramani has a sump below it
Kamini.Mathai@timesgroup.com
1.7.2019
Hit by the water crisis in 2015, Dr Kandasamy Subramani decided he was not going to be caught off guard again. So the professor and head of intensive care at Christian Medical College, Vellore, got started on building a sump under his car park. And now, says Dr Subramani, the car park supplies the water his family needs for at least nine months of the year, while allowing for two cars to be parked in the space.
“In 2015 we had to buy water. In our gated community, we started rainwater harvesting to recharge the groundwater. And that’s why I decided to increase the amount of rainwater conserved at my house,” says Dr Subramani. “We have 100sqm of roof area, and according to the research I did, I found that for every 1sqm of roof area you get 1 litre of water if there is 1mm of rain. The average rainfall in Vellore is 800 to 900mm a year, which means I get 70-90,000 litres a year,” he says.
“We use this water for eight to nine months a year. Even when we have a lot of guests staying over,” says his wife Sathya, a professor of physiology.
Drainage pipes from the roof and gutters over the car shed are connected to the 60,000-litre capacity tank under the car park. Dr Subramani uses a two-step filtration method. “We have two separate tanks at different heights. One has charcoal and the other has gravel and river sand. The first removes the organic matter and the second filters the water further,” says Dr Subramani who also uses solar power and grows a roof top garden.
HIDDEN TREASURE: The car park of Vellore resident Dr K Subramani has a sump below it
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