Master Plan-2041: Reuse and conserve crucial to meeting Delhi’s water needs

New Delhi: Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) Master Plan 2041 draft policy stressed ways to plug water wastage in the city by reusing and conserving water

New Delhi: Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) Master Plan 2041 draft policy stressed ways to plug water wastage in the city by reusing and conserving water.

HT Image

“Delhi is a water-scarce city and pressure on available water resources has increased manifold due to population growth wasteful consumption and systemic loss of water. There are visible accounts of decline in groundwater levels, heavy pollution in Yamuna River and frequent waterlogging instances across Delhi,” the draft policy read.

In the document, the DDA stressed that an integrated urban water management (IUWM) approach be adopted for Delhi where water supply, wastewater management and stormwater drainage can be interconnected for having water-linked infrastructures in an urban water cycle.

“Surface water, rainwater, wastewater and groundwater are considered here as four access points of water that have to be managed together. The focus is on reducing reliance on surface water and groundwater and realising the potential of the non-traditional sources of water for the future water needs of Delhi. The IUWM approach maximizes efficient water use,” it read.

Quoting the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) data, DDA said that in 2020 Delhi’s total demand was 1140 million gallons per day (MGD), as against the supply of 935MGD. This demand is expected to increase to 1746 MGD by 2031, before it goes down again in 2041 to 1455 MGD.

“Due to the limited availability of raw water to Delhi, DJB targets of demand of potable water for domestic use need to be rationalized and progressively reduced to 50 GPCD (gallons per capita per day) and supplemented by using non-potable recycled water of desired quality standard for non-potable purposes,” the DDA document highlighted.

The Master Plan 2041 draft highlighted the management of wastewater.

“To alleviate the flooding conditions in various parts of the city, stormwater drainage infrastructure needs to be made efficient. So, it is pertinent to apply corrective spatial strategies to address the deficient drainage infrastructure and introduce low-cost flood- prevention measures such as water body rejuvenation, using parks for rainwater harvesting etc. Further, solid waste and sewage need to be managed so that flow of stormwater is not hindered,” the document suggested.