In a bid to protect depleting groundwater level in South Delhi and South-West Delhi, Delhi Government’s Environment Department has embarked upon an ambitious plan to close down 128 borewells in and around Dwarka.
These borewells are being used to maintain greenery in 400 parks and gardens. Instead of using groundwater for irrigation of plants in parks, the Environment Department has decided to replace it with treated water from the sewage treatment plants (STPs). The decision to replace borewell water from STPs has already been taken in a meeting held by the Environment Department on May 2 that was chaired by the Environment (Secretary) Sanjiv Kumar. Now, this order has to be made public soon and direction has been given to concerned officials of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Environment Department to issue advertisement in newspapers to make the people aware about this crucial decision.
Officials told The Pioneer that the decision to close down 128 borewells is almost final. “This will help to protect depleting groundwater level in South and South-West Delhi. The next level of duty has been assigned to Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to ascertain the availability of surplus water from sewage treatment plants of DJB and several big hotels (who are treating waste water) and make them public on websites so that it could be used effectively in respective areas for maintaining greenery in parks,” officials said.
The environment department has also asked all the concerned departments, including the MCD, DJB, DDA, PWD, Delhi Parks and Garden Society and DPCC to prepare an action plan for immediate implementation of this project. “All these departments have to submit their action plan within fifteen days. This underlines the determination of environment department to close 128 borewells in Dwarka at the earliest and replace the use of groundwater for irrigation in parks from treated water of STPs,” said officials.
According to a recent report of Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) the groundwater, Delhi’s major resource in times of crisis, is being rapidly depleted. And things are only getting worse. The worst-hit areas include most of South Delhi and parts of South-West Delhi covering over 264 square km where the water table has dropped by as much as 10m to 20m over the last 10 years. In the remaining parts of South Delhi, South-West and the whole of West Delhi, the groundwater level has fallen between 4m and 10m, while the drop is 2m to 4m in other parts — North, North-East, East, and parts of North-West and West Delhi.
Another crucial decision was taken on the issue of distribution of treated water from STPs. These water need to be distributed by laying treated water supply line. This supply line may be available at some place and may not be available in large part of the city. In case this network is not available, then tankers should be provided by hiring. It was also decided in this meeting that water used for irrigating plants along the roadside should also be replaced by treated water from STPs by utilising the services of tankers. In both these cases, tankers will be required immediately. The Public Works Department (PWD) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have been directed to provide adequate number of tankers for this purpose.
The falling water table is not the only bad news for Delhi. The quality of groundwater is also worsening. Fresh groundwater is available at depths ranging from 30m to 70m, below which water is brackish or saline. But then, there are areas where the interface between fresh and saline water is at shallower depths of 20m to 25m.
In 1983, fresh groundwater was available at a depth of 10m or 33ft (1m equals 3.3ft). By 2011, it had fallen to 40m or about 132ft, with the period between 2002 and 2011 registering the most precipitous drop of 8.75m or nearly 29ft. Data compiled by the Central Groundwater Board of the Ministry of Water Resources shows there is no let up. The groundwater table in just about the whole of Delhi — spread over 1,484 square km — has declined between 2m and 20m. Only three patches adding up to a mere 18 square km have not registered any significant drop in the groundwater level.
last week, Delhi Government’s Revenue Department has issued notification for registration of all drilling machinery operators and tubewell operators within the DJB. It has also issued order for voluntary disclosure of tubewell/borewell owners within three months.