DELHI JAL BOARD GEARS UP FOR RAIN WATER HARVESTING AND URGES CITIZENS TOO AS MONSOON TO ARRIVE SOON
DJB readies its Rainwater Harvesting structures for the coming Monsoon and request Delhi citizens to gear up as well
The Board has 143 fully functional Rainwater Harvesting structures
Plans to install 178 new Rainwater Harvesting structures in place
For promoting implementation of Rainwater Harvesting, provisions incorporated in the Delhi Water and Sewer Tariff and Metering Regulations 2012
Delhi Jal Board has taken proactive measures to spread awareness regarding the need to adopt Rainwater Harvesting among the people of Delhi.DJB itself has 143 fully functional Rainwater Harvesting structures. Apart from this, it is proposed to install Rainwater Harvesting in another 178 installations. Each RWH system in DJB’s installations is minutely inspected and checked at regular intervals by DJB teams. DJB had also engaged two NGOs, INTACH and FORCE to create public awareness and promote community participation to implement Rainwater Harvesting in South-West and South Districts of Delhi.
Rainwater Harvesting is a simple, economical and eco-friendly technique of preserving every drop of water by guiding the rainwater that falls through small diameter pipes to borewells, pits and wells. With an ever growing population, there is an increasing burden on the available water resources. In such a scenario, Rainwater Harvesting needs to be adopted on a wide-scale to meet the growing water related needs of the citizens of Delhi. Some of the benefits of rainwater harvesting are improvement in the quality of ground water, reduction in soil erosion, minimization of choking of storm water drains, flooding of roads, etc.
Ground water extraction in Delhi has been regulated through a Gazette Notification issued by the Department of Forests and Wildlife, Govt. of NCT of Delhi. Some of the regulations state that :-
If the plot size of the building is more than 200 sq. mtrs., the permission to draw ground water through bore-well or tube-well shall be subject to installation of Rainwater Harvesting system.
Permission for drawl of groundwater for commercial and or industrial use is subject to installation of rainwater harvesting structures and re-use of the water in horticulture or cooling or toilet flushing etc. after proper treatment of waste water or any other suggestion given by the concerned Advisory Committee.
The following provisions have been made in the Delhi Water and Sewer Tariff and Metering Regulations 2012 for promoting implementation of Rainwater Harvesting:
Plot/properties with an area of 2000 sq. mtrs. and above, having installed functional RWH System or Waste Water Recycling System, shall be granted rebate @10% in the total bill amount and 15% if both the above systems have been set up and are functional.
If the Rain Water Harvesting system is adopted by a society then the individual member of that society will be entitled to above mentioned rebate in water bill.
The area Zonal Engineer or such other suitable agency as authorized by the Board will provide a functional certificate in respect of the above systems mentioning therein that substantive portion of the plot/ property has been covered as far as Rainwater Harvesting is concerned. Similarly, he will certify that substantive quantity of the waste water generated has been recycled by the consumer. A certificate with regards to the same will be issued after every six months.
Consumers with commercial/industrial plot size of 500 sq. mtrs. or more were to install Rainwater Harvesting system by 31.08.2013 while consumers with residential property of 500 sq. mtrs. or more should install RWH system by 31.08.2015. Consumers are liable for penalty of increase in tariff rate by 1.5 times on failure to comply with the order.
In order to facilitate people in Delhi to install Rainwater Harvesting Structures, the Rainwater Harvesting Cell of DJB provides technical assistance to individuals and institutions to help them in implementation of Rainwater Harvesting Systems. The RWH Cell has a dedicated phone no. 011-23558264. The Delhi Jal Board has also provided the general standard designs for Rainwater Harvesting Structures formulated by the Central Ground Water Board, Delhi on its website www.delhijalboard.nic.in (Home page>Information> Rain Water Harvesting- Ground Water Management> General Standard Design for Rain Water Harvesting) for public facilitation. Further, Technical Designs for Rainwater Harvesting have been provided in 192 number of cases by the EE (RWH/GWC) Cell.
Financial assistance to put up Rainwater Harvesting systems can be obtained under the ‘MLA Area Development Fund’ and the ‘My Delhi I Care Fund’ operated under the respective DC (Revenue).
From time to time, DJB has written to PWD, GNCTD/ DDA and the three MCDs for preparing an action plan for utilizing road side storm water drains, which are not vulnerable to carry waste water, for harvesting rain water runoff for the purpose of ground water recharge.
Further, DDA and the three MCD’s have been asked to take up work to ensure that large urban catchments like district parks in NCT Delhi may be landscaped in such a way that rainwater runoff from the catchment gets accumulated in a created water bodies within the district parks for the purpose of harvesting rainwater.
The Irrigation and Flood Control (I & FC) department, GNCTD has been asked to carry out the following steps:
To make an assessment of additional check dams in consultation with CGWB that are required to be constructed for utilization of runoff from ridge areas.
To ascertain the number of water bodies that can be used as recharge ponds and make an assessment on ground water recharge potential from such water bodies.
To carry out an impact assessment on ground water recharge as a result of the measures already taken up by I & FC Department.
To examine feasibility of creating water bodies in the Yamuna Flood Plains for storing water and for recharging the ground water table.
To prepare phase wise master plan for recharge of ground water in Delhi. In fact I&FC has assigned the work of study for recharge of ground water in NCT of Delhi in February 2015 to INTACH.
The Delhi Jal Board has taken many steps to sensitize people in Delhi about the need to adopt rainwater harvesting. Rainwater harvesting is an age old technique of conserving water and it needs to be inculcated into the day-to-day habits of our everyday life to arrest the falling ground water tables all over the city.
