5 water bodies in Delhi in urgent need of plan for revival: Forest dept

The five water bodies have either completely dried up, are being dumped with sewage or are encroached upon

Delhi’s forest and wildlife department has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that five of the 19 water bodies under its jurisdiction have either completely dried up, are being dumped with sewage or are encroached upon, and need interventions and an action plan for revival. The remaining 14 water bodies are full of water and will be preserved in their natural form, the department has said.

A small patch of water in a dried-up lake in east Delhi in 2024. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT Photo)

Three of the five water bodies are in Garhi Mandu, northeast Delhi, Rajokri, south Delhi, Sikarpur, southwest Delhi, and two are in Mukhmelpur, northwest Delhi.

The department made the submission to NGT after it sought details and present status of all water bodies from Delhi’s landowning agencies, including the forest department, after taking suo motu cognizance of a news report in April last year on disappearing water bodies in the Capital.

Five water bodies in danger

In its response dated February 13, the report shared on Sunday said that the forest department analysed data from all four of its forest divisions in Delhi, finding a total of 19 water bodies. Of these, 14 had substantial water and were being maintained adequately. The remaining five have been identified as requiring action, stating a specific timeline for revival will depend on the budget’s availability.

In its report, NGT said the water body in Garhi Mandu had water left only in a small patch in a corner. “An action plan for the revival of the water body is being prepared. The plan will be ready in three months,” said the report.

Both the water bodies in Rajokri and Sikarpur were found to be completely dry, with the department saying it will take adequate steps to replenish the water bodies with water again.

At Mukhmelpur, two water bodies were discovered, with one found to be significantly encroached upon and the other receiving large quantities of sewage. To act on the encroachment, the department said letters were issued to the district magistrate (north) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

“Once the exercise of demarcation is carried out, the process for removal of encroachment and restoration of the water body will be initiated,” said the report, adding that for fixing the problem of sewage in the second water body, a letter has been written to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department (I&FC), which will then initiate bio-remediation.

10 water bodies created recently

Of the 19 water bodies, 10 were “created” between 2023 and 2024 by the forest department in Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in south Delhi. This was done by first carrying out a contour study to identify locations where water would naturally accumulate.

“Work began in November 2023 to construct these 10 water bodies and by June 2024 was completed. These water bodies began to fill up as soon as the monsoon arrived. The elevation of the area, along with the contouring done, means any rainwater that would otherwise go to waste earlier, is now diverted to these water bodies,” a senior forest department official had said last year.

The report said that the water bodies are being maintained regularly, with action plans for their maintenance already in place. All 10 presently have water.

The combined capacity of the 10, created in Sahoorpur, Satbari and Maidangarhi, is 80 million litres. The average depth is around three metres, with an average size of around 1 acre.

“Four each were created at Satbari and Sahoorpur, while two were created at Maidangarhi,” a forest official said.

The vanished water bodies

Delhi’s State Wetland Authority (SWA) had in December told NGT that of the 322 water bodies identified by Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL) using satellite imagery in the city, only 43 were found during ground truthing. Further, of the 1,045 water bodies identified through revenue records, only 631 were detected on the ground. So, only 674 of Delhi’s 1,367 water bodies were found on the ground, with the remaining all encroached upon.

“A substantial number of water bodies are not identifiable through satellite imagery, which means that either they are illegally filled in or have been encroached upon, but no effective action has been taken by concerned authorities for restoration thereof,” SWA had said.

Delhi’s water bodies come under multiple landowning agencies, including DDA, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Public Works Department (PWD) and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), among others.

Of the 674 water bodies that exist on ground, SWA data showed that the most — 216 — are in southwest Delhi. However, on paper, the district should have 330 water bodies. North Delhi has the second highest number of extant water bodies at 143 out of 275 on record, followed by northwest Delhi where 104 out of 167 water bodies were found.

The district with the least number of existent water bodies is east Delhi, where only six water bodies were found on ground as compared to the 50 mentioned in records.

Previously, NGT had taken suo motu cognizance of an HT report from August 16,2024, report titled “From oasis to forsaken: Where did Delhi’s water bodies go?” and had sought replies from authorities on the status of water bodies.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Prakash Shrivastava in its order dated August 30, 2024, had referred to the news report and said that increased urban flooding was linked to the disappearance of Delhi’s water bodies.