NEW DELHI: The capital, already facing a severe drinking water shortage, is heading towards a more serious situation as the level of groundwater, continuously depleting in the last two decades, has resulted in 90% of the city being categorised as semi-critical or critical.
Presenting a dismal picture, the
Central Ground Water Board told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the water level has been decreasing from 0.5 metre to over 2 metres per year at different places in Delhi and could lead to a crisis if not halted.
Compiling data on groundwater levels from year 2,000 onwards, the board in its report said water levels at all its 20 monitoring stations have seen a steady decline with areas around Chhatarpur, Dwarka and the President’s Estate hit the worst.
As per the report, 27% of the national capital territory’s 1,483 sq km had ground water at the level of 0-5 metres in 2010 but in 17 years this has shrunk to 11%. In 2000, ground water was available till 40 metres but at present water levels in 15% of Delhi, or around 222 sq km, have plunged to 40-80 metres.
The board has placed almost all of Delhi in semi-critical or critical zones except a few pockets of west and central Delhi, which have been declared safe as per 200510 data. The problem might be serious in NCR because of over-exploitation of ground water for construction.
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