Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Delhi to audit its water resources for revival

The Delhi government has asked the district magistrates, along with other departments and urban local bodies, to conduct a baseline survey of water resources in the capital so that they could be revived for future water conservation.

The move comes under the Union government’s recently launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan, for which the first state-level meeting was held in the city Monday.

“Ten of the 11 districts in Delhi are covered under the campaign. The DMs have been asked to take the help of scientists for the task. The audit, for instance, will include identifying traditional water bodies that could be revived and other such interventions to address water shortage. The survey is intended to gather a “before and after picture”,” Manisha Saxena, state nodal officer, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, said.

Only North district, which is not water stressed, is not part of the campaign, she said. Most parts of the city face water shortage, especially in summer.

Besides, the public works department (PWD) along with other agencies has been asked to conduct an audit of government buildings to check the status of water harvesting systems.The agencies have been asked to complete the audit and submit a report by July 31. The first phase of the campaign is from July 1 to September 15.

“At present, some buildings have water harvesting systems but how efficient these are and how many do not have such systems need to be assessed. Since most buildings are maintained by the PWD, it will conduct the audit with other agencies to collect data,” a senior government official said.

Officials have also been told to explore methods to store rainwater run-off from roads and flyovers by installing sumps.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, last week, had also announced that rainwater harvesting will be made mandatory for all government buildings. He had directed department heads to ensure that all buildings get the system installed and those which already have them, must be cleaned and made ready to use before the rains hit Delhi.

Under the campaign, the forest department has asked to work towards “qualitative improvement” in plantation and focus on planting broad -leaved tree saplings, which allow more water to percolate to the ground and help raise the water table.

First Published: Jul 10, 2019 04:57 IST