Depleting groundwater unites NCR RWAs

Noida: Midway through yet another intense summer, residents welfare associations across Delhi-NCR came together on Wednesday to chalk out a strategy to fight the region’s water crisis.
In one of their major moves, the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) decided to convince authorities across the region to ensure installation of rainwater harvesting systems in all government offices, corporate buildings, community centres, and educational institutions to harness monsoon showers to stave off a looming crisis.
At the meeting, the RWAs also decided to soon organise a national-level seminar on the depleting groundwater levels in Delhi-NCR and invite Union and state government ministers to the event so that eventually a policy on groundwater conservation could be formed by Parliament.
Representatives of residents’ bodies from Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad participated in the meeting organised by the Confederation of NCR RWA (CONRWA), the umbrella body of the region’s RWAs, at Safdarjung Club.
“Groundwater depletion is occurring at an alarming rate annually in NCR. In Noida, it’s shrinking at the rate of 5-6 feet a year on average. We need to address this issue at the earliest, hence a meeting of all members was convened on Wednesday,” said PS Jain, president of CONRWA.
Not only in Noida, the groundwater level in 27 localities of Ghaziabad has witnessed an alarming decline of 5.3 metres in the past four years, according to a recent UP government report. And Gurgaon has already been marked as a ‘dark zone’ by the Central Ground Water Authority.
“Firstly, we suggested that all government buildings, corporate offices, community centres, marriage halls, colleges, schools, universities, housing societies, malls, parks stadiums, bus terminals, railway stations, airports, etc should have functional water harvesting systems,” said Anil Sharma, general secretary of CONRWA. Secondly, it was decided that a big seminar should be organised in this regard in Delhi. “We intend to invite Union and state government ministers and officials concerned officers to the seminar and seek solutions from them,” said Jain.
“We also decided that this problem should be taken to Parliament as well through the ministers, so that a national policy on groundwater conservation could be formed,” he added.
In January, TOI had reported the experts from the Central Groundwater Commission will soon conduct a hydrological survey to ascertain ways to increase the groundwater level across Noida. Noida Authority officials said the three-month-long survey will help identify the problem areas and etch out solutions with cost estimates that will be used to draw up a plan for groundwater conservation in the coming months. RP Singh, the deputy general manager (water and sewer department) of Noida Authority, had told TOI the groundwater level in Noida has plummeted from 30-40 metres in 2002 to nearly 110-115 metres in the recent years.