City theme park a role model for other states

Jubilee Hills: Water conservation and the idea of ground water recharging by harvesting rainwater is gaining importance in many cities across the country and this has become the need of the day.

To educate the people about the rainwater harvesting and conservation of water, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has constructed RainWater Harvesting Theme Park (RWHTP) a year ago. The park has been receiving overwhelming response not only from the city people, but also from other states of the country.

Government officials from other states like Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have visited the theme park to learn how HMWS&SB has set up the rainwater harvesting theme park and they want to set up same kind of theme park in their states to educate people, as most of the cities have made it mandatory to construct the rainwater harvesting pits in houses as well as business establishments.

A team of officials from the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board visited the rain water harvesting theme park and heaped praises on HMWS & SB for taking up such initiatives to promote rain water harvesting.

"We came all the way from Kanpur to learn about the concept of rain water harvesting theme park and the centre is very informative and we are inspired by it. We will also try this method to educate the people of the Kanpur", said Kinjal Singh from Kanpur Development Authority (KDA), speaking to The Hans India here on Wednesday.

Drinking water management and rainwater harvesting themes are very good and park gives easy access to scientific knowledge, said Lavna and Guy Tapie from University of Bordeaux in France.

People have come here not only from other states of the country, but also from the other country like France to learn the method which have implemented by the HMWS & SB to set up this kind of unique theme park. Also online booking has been started in theme park in which schools and colleges which are taking their students to show the theme park can book the slots online.

Theme park was constructed at Jubilee hills road number 51 with a cost of Rs 2 crore of which Rs 70 lakh was spent on animation short films, interactive games, and virtual reality setup intended to educate children on the importance of rainwater harvesting.

The park houses 42 models which show the visitors the different types of water conserving techniques and also placed here are four gazebos, each catering to a variety of rain water harvesting and ground water recharge system that can be replicated at homes.

A talking tree present inside the animation theatre, which speaks about the rain forests, is the major attraction for school children. The theatre also accommodates a virtual reality setup, which visualizes the journey of water reaching home from the source and the various stages involved.