Water scarcity is biggest challenge for city, says CM

'Situation may worsen in five years if steps not taken'

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday identified water scarcity as the biggest challenge facing Delhi and cautioned that the situation may worsen in the next five years if concrete steps to address the issue are not taken.

Speaking at an event organised by industry chamber CII, Dikshit noted that population of Delhi was increasing significantly and the per capita consumption of water was probably one of the highest in the world so the city may have to face great trouble in the next few years if supply of raw water does not go up.

“We are emphasising on rationalising distribution of water because the per capita consumption of water in Delhi is the highest in the country, probably one of the highest in the world. The per capita consumption is 272 litres of water. This is a kind of wastage," she said.

The current average demand for potable water in Delhi is around 1,100 million gallons per day (mgd) and the Delhi Jal Board supplies around 800 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 the supply of raw water. Large parts of the city witnessed a severe water shortage last summer and people even resorted to violent protests in many localities. She also identified housing as another challenge facing the city and exhorted private sector to come up with low cost housing for common citizens.

“Housing is a major issue. The reason why Delhi has not been able to catch up with other major capital cities of the world is because of lack housing which has resulted in mushrooming of unauthorised colonies and slums,” she said.

“Multiplicity of authorities in Delhi is a major problem. But it did not stop us from performing.”

Illegal installation

A Delhi court has directed CBI to  reinvestigate alleged corruption in installation of tubewell pipes involving six Delhi Jal Board officials, while rejecting its closure report that no case was made out.

The DJB officials were accused of conspiring with the contractor, who submitted false bills, to record false entries in the measurement books showing installation of pipes which were five to six times costlier than the ones actually used.

Water mafia
The National Green Tribunal has sought the Centre and Delhi government’s responses on a plea alleging that water smuggling mafia is behind illegal bore wells in Delhi and authorities are either ‘hand-in-glove’ with them or ‘turning a blind eye’ to such activities, reports PTI. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also issued notices to the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and sought their responses by September 9. The order came on a plea by Raj Hans Bansal, alleging that illegal extraction of groundwater through bore wells “is being conducted by full fledged water smuggling mafia.”