India’s capital has been worsening due to rapid explosion in population, settlement, immigration and industrial development etc. This rapid increase led to an overall increase in waste disposal, air quality and water quality. The surface water bodies have been polluted to level that it can even turn fatal if one drinks it by an accident.

Several areas like: Okhla, Nizamabad and Dwarkahave been hotspots for solid waste disposal. This disposal leads to pollution of ground water resources which are the only hope for the people around these areas. All domestic water demands are met by wells, tube wells and pumps. Researchers have suggested that sub surface water around these areas isn’t fit for domestic purposes as it contains some of the toxic metals which may have percolated from the leachate of waste disposal sites.

DELHI GOVERNMENT HAS AN OPTION?

Delhi government has taken into account such an issue by introducing several options:

• Delhi government has planned to install reverse osmosis (RO) plants in areas where groundwater levels are shallow, but not usable due to high salinity and hardness, to solve the water shortage in the city.
• Small RO plants in the areas where water is supplied through tankers so that people don’t have to wait for water tankers to arrive.
• One small RO plant will be installed for every 500 households to ensure that drinking water is available round the clock.
• Additionally, every jhuggi will be given at least one RO plant and wherever the population is more than 2000, more than one RO plant will be provided

Delhi government has been always improving its side to serve its state population better. They have divided the work in stages as their goals for ending this water storage seems to have a vision that can be achieved.

In the first phase, RO plants with a total capacity of 363 million litres per day (MLD) will be installed in areas where surplus groundwater is available, the Minister said. Over 7.25 lakh households are expected to benefit from the project. Okhla, Dwarka, Nilothi-Nangloi, Chilla and Najafgarh will be targeted in the first phase of this project and is expected to be completed in a year.

According to the Central Ground Water Board report, Delhi’s groundwater has over 22 lakh million gallons litres of saline water. This water can be converted into drinking water after RO treatment and can be supplied with the existing water supply of DJB, as per the Delhi government.DJB is currently supplying 4,230 MLD water against a demand of 5,130 MLD in the city. This project will augment an additional 363 MLD, hence reducing the deficit of 900 MLD to 540 MLD.

DJB is also working on other initiatives such as extraction wells, groundwater recharge through lake rejuvenation, ammonia treatment plants etc. to augment the water supply. All these projects are part of the broader umbrella of the Delhi government aimed to achieve round-the-clock water supply.