Rainwater harvesting yet to catch up despite dip in groundwater level

 While the three MCDs, government agencies and environmentalists have earnestly been urging people to adopt the technique to overcome the overall domestic water scarcity, it seems that their appeal is going down the drain. 

“Delhi has witnessed acute shortage of water due to depleting groundwater. To minimise the problem, people must focus on rainwater harvesting,” said Vikrant Tongad, an activist.

According to municipal bodies’ building bye-laws, each house built in minimum 200 yards has to adopt RWH (Rain Water Harvesting). But sources in the civic bodies stated that the initiative had not picked up due to the lack of skills, coupled with poor implementation of the laws on ground. 

“When people apply for provision of sanction of maps for buildings in Delhi, they pull the plug on the process just before it reaches the final stage of approval. Once the process is initiated, it shows as passed,” said an official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD).

Besides, the Delhi high court has issued a directive to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to promote and make way for RWH private buildings in the city. According to environmentalists, for building a Metro station with rainwater harvest capability, the authorities concerned should annually save 800 gallons of water, which continues to be ignored by the officials.

The Water Ministry has urged the states to make rooftop rainwater harvesting mandatory in the bye-laws for new buildings. Even though it has been implemented on paper, there is nothing to show on ground. According to sources, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) receive 611 mm of rain on an average annually and the number of rainy days are as low as 20-30, yet the water-saving technique is a workable model to gather water from precipitation.

Deputy Chairman Standing Committee, North MCD, Rajesh Bhatiya, who is likely to move a proposal for strict implementation of rainwater harvesting under its jurisdiction, said the groundwater was being used extensively in the Delhi for both irrigation and raw water requirement. Thus, the water level had gone down drastically from 40 to 200 metre, which was a matter of concern, he highlighted.

“Funding should be given to councillors, so that they can develop minimum five rainwater harvesting in each ward of North MCD. Besides, the old wells and ponds should be revamped and maintained,” said Bhatiya.

Also in 2009, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), a body under the Ministry of Water Resources, had sounded an alarm to all states to adopt the rooftop rainwater harvesting systems in government institutions. In Delhi, this process is still restricted to only a few institutions, even though the Centre provides financial and technical support for such projects.