it should not be used for drinking bathing or washing utensils and tested every six months by government or municipal laboratories the ministry suggested that a rebate can be given in property tax in housing societies where rain water harvesting is implemented the municipal corporations need to make concerted efforts with active participation of citizens for implementation of rain water harvesting systems the urban development ministry has recently sent letters to all municipal corporations on cities facing severe drinking water crisis when many having sufficient rainfall the civic bodies must also focus on overall improvement in the water distribution systems a significant quantity of water is lost in leakages in the pipeline distribution system municipal corporations have also been asked to incorporate regulations for waste water treatment and recycling in their development control rules municipal corporations have a special responsibility to create and maintain rain water harvesting systems at all public spaces and public buildings due to rapid urbanization there is over exploitation of ground water accordingly the pimpri chinchwad civic administration has come up with a proposal where public suggestions and objections would be invited recycled water shall be used for gardening car washing flushing and irrigation implementing rain water harvesting for old buildings would be some what difficult they added special attention should be given on water leakages and misuse the letter added pimpri chinchwad rain water harvesting will be made compulsory in pimpri chinchwad for all new residential and commercial buildings with an area of 20000 sq mt senior civic officials said it will act as a demonstration project citizens can come forward and voluntarily install these systems in their existing buildings the letter added all new multistoried buildings that have more than 50 tenements hospitals educational institutions industries commercial establishments lodges restaurants and garages need to have water recycling plants once the rules come into effect the ministry said it has issued model building byelaws 2016 which include updated provisions for rain water harvesting besides various mechanisms for effective monitoring and implementation civic officials added that although rain water harvesting is compulsory for new buildings on an area of 20000 sq mt it can be relaxed on plots of smaller areas it has asked municipal corporations to adopt these provisions which include creation of a monitoring cell in the city and empanelment of various agencies for facilitating residents who are interested in having rain water harvesting installed at their homes the ministry has said that although many states have already made provisions for mandating rain water harvesting in their building byelaws it is seen that the implementation and monitoring at the municipal corporation level is not that effective