Identifying 34 five-star hotels as major guzzlers of water, Delhi Government’s watchdog — Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has directed them to set up sewage treatment plants by September 30. With water crisis during peak summer months looming large, the Government has taken this step to prevent wastage of water by five-star hotels and advised them to conserve water. The hotels have also been told to examine curbing consumption of power.
It is said that the 34 five-star hotels in Delhi consume around 15 million litres of water per day and generate nearly 10 million litres of sewage everyday. It is estimated that 15 MlD water can quench the thirst of 1.70 lakh households.
DPCC Member Secretary Sandeep Mishra told The Pioneer that the Government has set a deadline of September 30 for installing STPs in five-star hotels. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be signed between five-star hotels and the Delhi Government on June 3, to comply with the Green Hotel Guidelines, particularly installation of adequate STPs with appropriate technology so that water could be treated and reused.
“With this step, 30 to 40 per cent water could be saved. It is said that hotels in India consume two to three times more water as compared to European hotels. The treated water could be used for horticulture purposes, flushing of toilets and in their air conditioning and fire fighting systems,” he said.
The guidelines essentially ask hotels to install sewage treatment plants for treatment of the entire waste water, on-site use of treated water in flushing, cooling towers, horticulture, besides installation of solar water heating systems, organic waste convertor and biogas plants. Hotels are also supposed to ensure composting, peripheral plantation, rain water harvesting, groundwater recharge, and water auditing.
The current average demand of potable water in Delhi is around 1,100 MGD (million gallons per day) and currently Delhi Jal Board supplies around 835 MGD water across the city after treating raw water in its treatment plants.
The demand is projected to touch around 1,400 MGD by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2017. Delhi relies heavily on neighbouring States such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for supply of raw water. large parts of the city witnessed severe water shortage last summer and people even resorted to violent protests in many localities demanding water.
According to Mishra, under Air and Water Act, the DPCC has power to disconnect water and power supply. The punitive action will follow in case of non-compliance of the directive.
Through a questionnaire, hotels have been asked to furnish information on infrastructure, water consumption and its conservation, water source, waste water generation and its reuse, adopted air pollution control measures, solid waste generation, energy consumption and its conservation, adoption of renewable energy sources, development of environmental management group and corporate social responsibility steps.
“The hotels can follow best practices adopted by various European hotels to improve the environmental quality in Delhi, in terms of water, air, waste management and green power," he said.