The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) extended the deadline given to property owners to install rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems from June 30 to September 30. DJB officials say they want to make sure that the policy takes off not just on paper but in reality. “The deadline was tight and almost impossible to meet. We can’t ensure that everyone has a rainwater harvesting pit by force. People have to be mobilised. Penalising them will not help and hence the extension,” says DJB CEO, Keshav Chandra. For over a decade, policy makers in Delhi have tried to encourage rainwater harvesting. Policies have made the construction of RWH pits mandatory in buildings constructed on an area of more than 100 metre square. But the ground reality hasn’t changed. For around five years now, Delhi has only 500 approved RWH structures. The new dispensation wants to change this. How successful they are remains to be seen. For starters, the gover nment is looking at institutions instead of individual househol