New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) plans to install 47 piezometers across the city to monitor groundwater, officials said on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Delhi government had announced a tubewell policy under which groundwater extraction would rise.
“The piezometers are basically monitoring wells dug up in the ground to measure the quantity and quality of water. The work will be implemented in around four months after award of work, for which we have floated a tender,” a DJB official said.
In April, during the ‘Catch the Rain’ event organised by the DJB as part of the rainwater harvesting programme, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that the Delhi government is planning to bring a borewell policy in the city to ease water shortage problems.
“The Delhi government is seriously considering bringing in a borewell policy. But only those houses and residential colonies which have a proper functioning water harvesting system will be eligible to get an authorised borewell,” Gupta had said.
According to officials, with limited sources of water supply of its own, the national capital’s dependency on groundwater is likely to increase in the future, for which a new borewell policy is needed.
The DJB currently operates 10 water treatment plants (WTPs) producing around 990-1000 million gallons per day (MGD) of water, which includes 135 MGD from tubewells.
“By 2051, the population projection is 3.21 crore, for which approximately 1566 MGD (million gallons per day) of water will be required. In the near future, there is no new source of water, hence the supply needs would be dependent on groundwater,” officials said.
Officially, Delhi has around 5,000 borewells, but experts believe that the actual number is much higher. The new wells will be set up in 47 locations, including Shalimar Bagh, Ashok Vihar, RK Puram, Vasant Vihar, Dwarka, Rangpuri, Bawana and others.
According to the Central Ground Water Board’s 2024 report, Delhi extracted more water than it recharged.
The report stated that out of 34 assessment units (tehsils) in Delhi, 14 were categorised as ‘over-exploited,’ 13 as ‘critical,’ two as ‘semi-critical,’ and five units as ‘safe.’ PTI SSM SSM KSI KSI
