In a first, GMDA to provide treated water to housing societies

Gurgaon: Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will provide treated water to housing societies as well for non-drinking purposes for the first time. So far, the metropolitan authority has been providing treated water for horticulture, agricultural and industrial purposes.
According to the GMDA officials, the authority has drawn up a plan to bring down the usage of groundwater in the city as Gurgaon falls in a black zone with groundwater table depleting at a very high rate and the project is in line with the same goal. The per capita water consumption is around 150 litres of which 20 litres is for potable use and the rest is for non-potable use such as horticulture and flushing. GMDA plans to cover most of the non-potable water usage with the treated water.
“We are already providing treated water for horticultural and other purposes. With this project, we will now be targeting residential societies along the Southern Peripheral Road. The treated water can be used for non-drinking purposes thereby bringing down the usage of groundwater,” said a GMDA official.
He added that they have begun the tendering process and once the tenders are allotted, the work for laying down of the pipelines will start. As soon as the pipelines are laid, they will start supplying water. “We are hopeful that we will be able to lay down the pipelines in the area over a period of next six months so that we can begin the supply of treated water in the next year,” said the official.
The scheme will not only help bring down the use of potable water and groundwater exploitation, but it will also help reduce the volume of sewage water going into the Najafgarh drain and thereby the Yamuna river.
There are currently two sewage treatment plants (STP), one at Behrampur and another at Dhanwapur. While the one at Dhanwapur feeds the irrigation channel supplying for micro-irrigation purposes, the other one is being used to supply wastewater for other purposes.
GMDA is also providing 200 MLD of treated sewage water for micro-irrigation to 13 villages in the Jhajjar district. The project, which was conceived in 2018, is now functional and seeing its success. The metropolitan authority has been asked to augment the capacity to 500 MLD. It has developed a 26.8-km-long irrigation channel between Dhanwapur and Jhajjar which carries the treated water to these villages where it is used for micro-irrigation purposes.