Delhi groundwater will run dry in 3-5 yrs

HIGH AND DRY
Delhi groundwater will run dry in 3-5 yrs: Study
Situation In Other Metros Also Alarming, Says NGRI

Bappa Majumdar & Sunil Mungara TNN 

Hyderabad: This is sounds like crisis. Scientists at the premier National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) have said groundwater in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, along with several other northern cities, are declining at such a rapid pace that in three years the Andhra Pradesh capital will be almost bone dry.
“History shows us civilizations have vanished once water is also gone. Water carries people and we need to wake up now and do something before it is too late,” Mrinal Kanti Sen, director of NGRI told TOI on Tuesday.
Staring at an acute crisis, NGRI has been asked by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the ministry of water resources to trace new aquifers using heliborne electromagnetic techniques in the states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Rajasthan.
“The government is concerned and we are gearing up to find new aquifers all over the country as this is the only way out,” says Sen.
In Hyderabad, despite a very good 2011 monsoon, water levels in places like Sanjeevareddy Nagar and Maredpally were at a depth of just about 18 metres; the situation in other observatory zones are equally bad.
Hydrogeologists at NGRI and government water board officials say that with cities turning into concrete jungles very little rain water is getting infiltrated into the earth for conversion into groundwater.
“In an ideal scenario, at least 16% of total rainfall must seep into the earth to get recharged as groundwater, but in cities such as Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai barely half of it does. This is very alarming,” says Dr SN Rai, a top scientist at NGRI.
“It is going to go down further, and at this rate Hyderabad will the first to run dry in three years time. Delhi will be next and may run dry in three to five years. There is a bleak future in store for other metros,” adds Rai, also the vice president of International Association of Hydrogeologists.
NGRI scientists say the scenario in Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan are very bad with groundwater in 20 out of 27 tehsils in Delhi receding rapidly.
A two-year CGWB study shows that groundwater use in Delhi was upto 12,569 hectare metres (HM) against an extremely poor recharge of 2,652- 4,172 hm per tehsil.
Vasant Vihar, Hauz Khas, Chankayapuri, along with Karol Bagh, Kotwali, Kalakji, Rajouri Garden and Paharganj, are among the worst exploited areas, officials say. Rampant digging of bore wells and poor water recharge areas due to construction of buildings are the reasons, they offer.
In Mumbai, civic bodies are resorting to artificial rains as the city’s water collection and storage is nearly 30 percent deficient; water needs can be handled only till February 2013.
CGWB officials say they have plans to revive 8000-10,000 old wells and hundreds of ring wells instead of the current trend of bore wells which does not help in water recharge.The only bright spot in Mumbai is that water levels in the lakes are higher than what it was last time, scientists say.
The scenario in the southern metro of Chennai isn’t happy either, with hydrogeologists saying that the already declining groundwater level has been contaminated due to over exploitation. In fact, CGWB says that 247 out of 451 water samples taken from all districts of Tamil Nadu showed high levels of chloride, fluoride and nitrate — all very harmful for humans.
The situation looked dangerous in towns like Perambalur, Namakkal, Salem and Vellore, officials say. In some of the areas, officials are using air compressors instead of pumps to draw groundwater.
“If Hyderabad is the worst, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai have huge water worries of their own. Unless local governments and people learn to conserve water and think about our next generation, it’s all downhill from here,” says Dr Rai.
Scientists say every big household in the city needs a minimum 3 x 10 feet pit to collect rain water from the roof and divert it to the pits for recharge. Ramesh Kumar, deputy director at the Andhra Pradesh groundwater department, says that indiscriminate digging of bore wells, and encroachment of lakes and water tanks are the prime culprits. The city has only 300-odd lakes remaining out of 900 plus in the late 1960s.
“As a result we are forced to get water from Nagarjunasagar, about 140 km away from the city, to meet water demand,” says Kumar. “Hyderabad will run dry and there is no doubt about it if this trend continues.”
(Source: Times of India, Dec 19 2012)

HC pulls up civic agencies for failure to stop waterlogging

Press Trust of India / New Delhi August 21, 2012,

On a day Delhiites reeled under waterlogging woes due to heavy rains, the Delhi High Court today pulled up the civic agencies for not taking measures to desilt drains to prevent inconvenience to people during monsoon in the national capital.
The court also asked trifurcated MCD and NDMC to place on record the road maps relating to drainage system by next week.
"Drains have to be cleaned. There are no short-term measures to stop waterlogging in the city. If you don't know the number of drains in the area, how will you clean them?," a division bench of justices S K Kaul and Vipin Sanghi asked after MCD failed to file the status report.
The civic body claimed that long-term plans were there as per the Masterplan 2021 to solve the problem.
"Year after year the problem of waterlogging occurs. You cannot ask citizens to wait for implementation of your long- term plans," the bench said and asked the authorities to bring the records of road maps to court by August 28.
The bench made the observations while hearing a plea by NGO Nyaya Bhoomi President B B Sharan to launch contempt proceedings against the civic body officials for their alleged failure in complying with the court's July 11 order.
The high court had on July 11 had directed officials to take steps to end the problem of waterlogging in the capital in 15 days.
The court's directions had come while hearing two PILs, filed by the NGO and Gaurav Bansal, a lawyer, seeking steps to address the problem of waterlogging in the capital.
One of the petitions had claimed MCD and Public Works Department (PWD) have done nothing significant after 1998 to properly desilt drains and this was causing waterlogging on major roads even after the slightest of rain.
Giving a list of 41 waterlogging-prone areas here, the petition referred to a response received under an RTI, and said affected areas included Ashram Chowk, South Extension Part-I, Mathura Road, ISBT Kashmere Gate, RTR Marg near Moti Bagh flyover, Siri Fort Road, Dhaula Kuan underpass and underpasses around Dwarka.

Source: Business StandardOriginal Link