In a bid to help restore depleting groundwater table, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will come up with 40 rainwater harvesting structures at prime locations in lutyen’s Delhi.
“We are developing rainwater harvesting systems with storage facilities. At these spots, the rainwater could be stored and excess water used to recharge the groundwater table,” NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar said.
Kumar said 40 such structures will be set up under the project and as of now, 10 locations have been identified. The systems will be operational in another six months. locations identified for the Phase I of the project include Shantipath, Commonwealth Games village, Singapore Embassy road, Sardar Patel Marg and lodhi Garden among others.
“The 10 plants will have a water storage capacity of 50,000 to 1 lakh litre and excess water will be used for perforation of grounds. Also during the summer season, we are not able to contain our grass cover properly. We are also strengthening the reservoirs we already have for storing water. Delhi Jal Board services will be used to provide water during summer time to these reservoirs,” he added.
As part of its green city initiative, the council has also launched a major plantation drive in which around one lakh saplings are scheduled to be planted.
Saplings from 20 countries including Bangladesh, Argentina, Sri lanka, Pakistan, Thailand, the US, Brazil, Australia, Chile, Cuba, Indonesia and laos, among others will be planted during the drive.
The NDMC areas are home to the high and mighty of the country, including Union Ministers and parliamentarians besides many top industrialists.
Parliament House, offices of all the ministries, Supreme Court, High Court and residences of Supreme Court judges, senior bureaucrats and senior military officers are in NDMC areas.
The NDMC is also strengthening its garbage disposal system and considering setting up of more waste treatment plants.
“We are considering setting up of more waste treatment plants. Also, we will ensure that if complaints are received at our call centre about garbage piling up somewhere, we will rush our trash vans and the same will be cleared within an hour,” a senior NDMC official said.
“Our garbage disposal system is efficient. We run smooth door-to-door garbage collection facility and there are proper disposal areas,
too. We collect around 300 metric tonnes of garbage every day,” he said.