DPCC proposes panel to enforce rainwater harvesting norms in Delhi

As per the proposal, MCD will be tasked to prepare a list of all buildings in Delhi, along with their area

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has proposed the formation of a joint committee, comprising officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Jal Board (DJB), to monitor and enforce compliance of rainwater harvesting (RWH) norms in Delhi, officials aware of the matter said on Friday.

A rainwater harvesting unit in New Delhi. (HT Archive)

DPCC said MCD will identify all buildings in Delhi with an area over 100 sqm, where the installation of RWH pits is mandatory, as per the building bylaws and added that the government will be imposing an environmental compensation ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh on defaulters, based on the area of the building inspected, they added.

The report said the compensation will be ₹50,000 for buildings with an area of 100-500 sqm, ₹1 lakh for 501-2,000 sqm; ₹2 lakh for 2,001–5,000 sqm and ₹5 lakh for over 5,000 sqm.

“The proposed joint committee shall co-ordinate and ensure implementation of various orders of NGT and the Central Groundwater Authority. The committee shall operate under the chairmanship of the divisional commissioner of DJB as member convener....it shall present an action taken report to the chief secretary on the first month of every quarter,” said the report, submitted to NGT, dated January 4.

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioners in all districts will be required to ensure installation by carrying out inspections, DPCC said. At present and until the committee is formed, the current environmental compensation proposed can be collected by anyone from DJB, DPCC as well as district magistrates and municipal zonal deputy commissioners.

“The above proposed environmental compensation shall be imposed by the DJB/DPCC/district magistrate/municipal zonal deputy commissioner in their territorial jurisdictions and deposited into a separate account (which will be operated by DPCC) and the amount collected will be utilised for the purpose of promoting RWH in Delhi,” DPCC said, adding that in case of non-compliance, the revenue department will collect the amount as arrears of land revenue.

In an earlier report, submitted to NGT in May last year, DPCC said it carried out inspections of RWH systems installed in residential societies in Dwarka and found them to be “ill-maintained”, and thus causing groundwater contamination. The report, based on joint inspections by teams of DJB and DPCC, found that out of the 354 Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS), 180 had high ammonical nitrogen in them.

Ammonical nitrogen is a measure for the amount of ammonia in the water. This is a toxic pollutant often found in landfill leachate and in waste products.

The report also said that to rectify this problem, DJB has already written to the federation of CGHS society in Dwarka, asking for corrective action to be taken, which includes ensuring that only rooftop water is harvested, filter media is replaced at regular intervals and recharge borewells are cleaned at regular intervals.

Jyoti Sharma of the NGO, FORCE, which works on water security in Delhi, said the rules for mandatory installation of RWH systems in every building over 100 sqm has been around for a long time, but there has been a lack of implementation. “Both DJB and MCD can take action even now, but we have seen poor to no implementation,” said Sharma. A new committee is unlikely to solve anything, unless implementation on the ground improves, she added.

“We need two things – one, regular inspections and two, standardised designs – as we see a lot of RWH systems are being built with faulty designs, which eventually leads to groundwater contamination,” Sharma said.