In a move to replenish groundwater, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has started promoting rainwater harvesting through different means, including social media. Besides, a booklet has also been published and being distributed to make public aware of.
The DJB has established rain centres to address the problems and queries regarding rainwater harvesting. The numbers are 8745017926 (RK Puram), 8745017933 (lajpat Nagar), and 8745017931 (Dwarka).
A senior DJB official said that the concept of rainwater harvesting (RHS) is being promoted through social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and by another medium, where information regarding installation and necessary helpline number also being provided.
The DJB has made it mandatory for all new building built on an area of more than 100 square metre and above or discharge of 10,000 litres to install a rainwater harvesting system. “For those who failed to install RHS structure the water tariff will increase by 1.5 times every month,” the official said.
“The cost of building a rainwater harvesting pit for a building depends on the area. The dimensions of the pit structure are suggested by engineers of DJB thereafter consumer can get it done through a private agency. They will get a 10 per cent rebate on water bills if this is done,” he said.
Experts say rainwater being a free asset should be judiciously used by the citizens to meet Delhi’s water needs. “Rainwater harvesting is a simple, economical and eco-friendly technique of preserving every drop of water by guiding the rainwater that falls to bore wells, pits and wells through small diameter pipes. The present demand for water in Delhi is around 800 MGD (millions of gallons per day) whereas the supply from all the available sources is about 650 MGD.
The gap between demand and supply is partly being met by extraction of groundwater through wells, tube wells, deep bore hand pumps etc so water harvesting in this scenario has become a need of the hour,” they said.
The Pioneer had earlier reported that the groundwater level in South and Southwest districts of Delhi is critical as the water level has depleted. However, hydro geologists in the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) said the situation can be overcome with good recharge during the monsoon season.
In January, CGWB monitored groundwater tab of eight districts in Delhi. In South district, the level of groundwater was found at 51.76 metres down from earth’s surface, however, according to hydro geologists 6 to 10 metres below the groundwater is considered good. In all the districts of the Capital, groundwater tab was measured below in South and Southwest district. The groundwater level in less populated area of Asola Bhatti range was found at 45.98 metres to 51 metres. Groundwater was found 34.28 and 59.51 meters below the ground surface at Hauz Khas and Pushp Vihar Vihar area.
The CGWB report showed nearly 50 per cent wells of South Delhi district showed depth to water level more than 40 metres below ground level (mbgl) and nearly 30 per cent wells showed depth to water level in the range of 20 to 40 mbgl.
In New Delhi district, 70 per cent of wells showed depth to water level in the range of 8 to 12.36 mbgl while only 30 per cent wells showed depth to water level from ground above 20 per cent. In North Delhi, 10 per cent of wells showed depth to water level is 8 metres whereas 90 per cent of wells showed depth to water level in the range of 1.63 to 3.53 mbgl.
In North-West districts, 35 per cent and 65 per cent monitoring stations have depth to water level in the range of 5-10mbgl and 12-20 mbgl respectively, while in East, North-East, North West and West district 33, 85, 100, 34 and 44 (per cent) monitoring stations respectively have depth to water level in the range of 2 to 5 mbgl.