Students of ITM Business School explore Rainwater Harvesting in villages of Taloja during their NGO intervention

Mumbai: ITM Business School has a mandatory NGO intervention as a part of their PGDM curriculum. The institute aims to develop their students into ready-to-work professionals. Apart from theoretical knowledge, ITM also encourages practical knowledge to the students. This year, the students of ITM took up the challenge to implement Rain Water Harvesting in Taloja village. The main purpose of rain water harvesting is that it can be used for future use. It is a sustainable water management practice that can be implemented by anyone on many different levels.

Mr. Gaurav Agashe, student specialising in the Business Analytics program along with Anukruti Jharia and Astha Singh took the initiative to work with CSR initiative of Galaxy Surfactants, on community development catchment area, no. of dry spells, average water consumption (demand), types of occupation program, “Water is life". To begin with the students started collecting data of ten houses and analysed how much water they can store and how many litres of tank they might be requiring. Focus groups, interviews with sarpanch, villagers and women of the house were most helpful to collect data. Variables taken were catchment area, no of people staying in house, average rainfall, types of (farming, animal husbandry etc.), type of roof, velocity of metal sheet roof, whether it will be able to hold water and to what quantity and the types of crops cultivated. The students were mentored by Dr. Neena Nanda, Head of Department of Business Analytics program at ITM Kharghar to pull all their learnings of their research and statistical analysis to come up with a cost effective and technically easier method of conserving water in this area.

Gaurav said, “During my 15 days of project I witnessed real hand problems of water scarcity in villages of Taloja. The main problem I could see was the neglect of local water bodies which are being trespassed or have become dry. Evidently over-reliance on monsoons with water management systems has led to this difficulty. What struck me is that for purpose other than drinking, non-potable water can be supplied.  To me roof-top rainwater harvesting system seemed to be cost effective and technically easier method of conserving water in this area.

When the idea was presented to Dr. Nanda, she said “Rainwater harvesting provides the long-standing solutions to the problem of water scarcity and fulfill water demand. However it is important to evaluate the performance of the rooftop rainwater harvesting system on the basis of current roof systems and materials in the area, along with water consumption patterns”. She also added, “According to sources the probable total water demand by year 2025 is about 1050 billion cubic meters. The nation‘s annual utilizable water resources are gauged around 1140 billion cubic meter. Thus, the all-inclusive utilizable water resources would be required to be put to use by the year 2025. The youth of the country have a major role to play in conservation of these resources. We are happy to have NGO as an intervention which exposes students to such issues and use their learnings practically”. Dr. Nanda also expressed her thanks to Galaxy Surfactants for providing this opportunity to their students and for initiating this project at Sidhikarvale village.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) each person requires around 25 liters’ of water daily for meeting basic hygiene and food needs. The extra consumption is for purposes like mopping and cleaning. Villages in Taloja district have been suffering water crisis since many years. The main purpose of rain water harvesting is that it can be used for future use. It is a sustainable water management practice that can be implemented by anyone on many different levels.

ITM Business School’s PGDM Connect program is not for the faint hearted. The course covers over 1000 contact hours of curriculum and 300 hours of personal and professional development.