Click to play videoNew Delhi: As summer approaches, Delhiite Ruchi Singhal’s house won't be bracing itself for the water problem that plagues its South Delhi neighborhood every year. And this is because Ruchi has recently installed a water-harvesting device.
Now she has enough water supply to even complete secondary chores like washing her drive way and watering her plants.
“There was a time when we didn't get supply from the Delhi Jal Board for three days. That's the time we were banking on storage tank water collected from rainwater. We used to mop floors, clean cars and do gardening – things where you don't require absolutely fresh water,” Ruchi, a resident of Delhi’s Saket area explained.
Ruchi's needs may be quenched but her story screens some disturbing facts.
Delhi's ground water levels are dipping steeply, by six to eight meters every year. The amount of water being drawn by Delhiites is 250 times more than what actually seeps in.
Over 70 per cent of the city's ground water today is over exploited and on the verge of drying up.
Sites in the Capital for integrated freight complex were once natural water bodies – a catchment for rain water and flood barrier, but rapid development and neglect have led to more than 500 such bodies being lost.
The High Court may have directed various government groups to restore these water bodies but more than a 100 of them buried under buildings and encroachments have no hope of revival.
Given the uncertainty of water supply from other states and the exploitation of ground water by bore-wells, rainwater harvesting and water recycling may be the only solution for the Capital. But only a few 100 houses and institutions have these mechanisms in place today.
Delhi, now more than ever, needs to hold a beaker to the sky before the ground beneath dries up.
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