New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS): The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it had made it mandatory for a property of 500 sqm or more to have provision for rainwater harvesting.

The agency also informed the court that it had been making efforts to promote rain water harvesting in the national capital.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva was further informed by the DJB that to encourage rainwater conservation, it has adopted a method of "awarding subsidy in water bills" to consumers who have installed rainwater harvesting systems.

Filing an affidavit, Parveen Kumar Bhargava, chief engineer (planning) water, DJB, said plots having an area of 2,000 square metres or more with functional rainwater harvesting system are granted 10 percent rebate in the water bill.

On non-compliance with the provision, "the tariff applicable on the consumer increases by 1.5 times", the affidavit stated.

The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate R.K. Kapoor seeking to make rainwater harvesting mandatory for both residential and commercial buildings here.

The court had earlier asked the DJB to submit its report on efforts made by it to promote rainwater harvesting.

The DJB said it has provided rainwater harvesting systems in 151 installations and provided financial assistance to the tune of Rs.82 lakh in another 172 cases in the institutional category for providing rainwater harvesting systems.

"The rainwater harvesting cell of DJB provides technical assistance to individuals for rainwater harvesting," the affidavit said, adding that "DJB has provided the information regarding rainwater harvesting on its website."

It said two NGOs have been roped in to create public awareness and promote community participation to implement rainwater harvesting.