City water table sinks to new depths

City water table sinks to new depths

Survey By CGWB Shows Water Level Has Dipped Drastically In 129 Wells Since Last Year

Neha Lalchandani | TNN

New Delhi: As environmentalists question governments seriousness in implementing rainwater harvesting in the city, theres a more worrisome news emerging groundwater levels are fast depleting. According to the latest survey by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), of the 178 wells inspected in Delhi, levels of 129 have either gone down since last year, including two in the Presidents estate, or the wells have dried up.
The drop in water levels has also been observed in north and central Delhi, the only two districts that did not face a groundwater shortage. While boring tubewells has practically been banned with the Delhi Jal Board now incharge for issuing clearances, the move doesnt seem to have made much difference as largescale exploitation of water still seems to be the order of the day.
Rainwater harvesting, made compulsory in Delhi in 2001 by a court order, has also not been implemented as would have been desired. All government buildings with a built-up area of 100 sq mt, all roads and flyovers, co-operative group housing societies and farmhouses are required to have rainwater harvesting. The same notification also made recycling water for horticultural use compulsory for those buildings that had a daily discharge of 10,000 litres or more of water. But while old buildings continue to ignore the order, recycling is a practice adopted by barely a handful of buildings.
A c c o rd ing to an affidavit submitted by various civic agencies to the court in November 2007, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had identified 365 sites for rainwater harvesting of which 294 projects had been completed. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) submitted a list of 18 places where work had either been completed or in progress. Delhi Development Authority gave in a list of 1,287 plans of which 821 had been completed. Proposals have also been made for rainwater harvesting in 227 parks and 156 municipal buildings.
Over 40 RWAs and several individuals have taken up rainwater harvesting at local level with the help of NGOs. According to DPCC figures, 368 rainwater harvesting pits had been set up in the city.
Delhi receives 600.8 mm rain for 27 days in a year. As estimated by CGWB in 2006, out of the 194 million cubic metres rainwater that is the run-off , only 4 mcm will seep into the aquifer. The wastage is 190 mcm approximately. Rainwater harvesting should be adopted at a largescale if any difference has to be made to the groundwater level. Largescale illegal extraction is still taking place in south and southwest districts and falling levels of groundwater are a big cause for concern, said a CGWB official.
Vinod Jain, director of NGO Tapas, said: DJB and DDA have both said that rainwater harvesting on roads is also possible but barely a couple of roads have been covered. Not only would this save a lot of run-off but also solve the problem of waterlogging to a large extent.
DJB officials, meanwhile, say that while nothing happened for several years, a lot of effort is being put into rainwater harvesting now.
The governments rainwater harvesting programme is getting a huge response. We need to have a positive approach and wait for the results to manifest themselves, said an official.