DDA to start recycling wastewater, to begin with at its headquarters

For residents of areas built by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), such as Vasant Kunj and Dwarka, scarcity of water is an everyday problem. Sidhartha Roy reports.

For residents of areas built by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), such as Vasant Kunj and Dwarka, scarcity of water is an everyday problem.

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The DDA now plans to tackle this perennial problem by recycling wastewater. And it is starting from its own home.

DDA's headquarters Vikas Sadan, near INA, will soon have a wastewater recycling plant that is expected to salvage more than one lakh gallons (about four lakh litres) of water per day.

The number of employees working at the headquarters is around 5,000, apart from the thousands of visitors who throng the office every day.

"At present, a lot of water is wasted in toilets and for other purposes that just goes down the drain. If that water is recycled, it can be used again for purposes such as flushing and watering plants," said a senior DDA official, who didn't wish to be named.

The wastewater recycling plant at Vikas Sadan is a pilot project that the land development agency plans to replicate at its other offices and housing apartments built by it.

DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar confirmed that the first plant is going to come up at Vikas Sadan but couldn't give a fixed date for its completion.

The DDA has faced problems in providing water in its many housing projects in areas such as Dwarka and Vasant Kunj because the Delhi Jal Board had said that it doesn't have enough water for upcoming areas.

The Master Plan 2021, which is under review at present, also makes it mandatory for any new group housing society to install a mini sewage treatment plant in its premises to recycle wastewater.