NEW DELHI: Delhi high court on Monday took note of depleting groundwater in the capital and decided to initiate a PIL to enforce rainwater harvesting norms to conserve water.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli cited a TOI report of March 23, which highlighted that Delhi is ignoring the mandatory requirements on rainwater harvesting despite its depleting resources, to flag the issue as a PIL.
“This court considers it necessary to examine, firstly, the aspect of implementation of rainwater harvesting in terms of the regulations and guidelines. Secondly, it also considers it appropriate to examine the feasibility of channelising treated sewerage water, particularly in those parts of the city where the water table is very low, which would reduce dependence on groundwater and help in recharging it in such areas,” the HC observed.
It directed the registry of the court to place the PIL before a bench led by the Chief Justice, even as it made the three corporations, DDA, New Delhi Municipal Council, DJB Central Ground Water Authority and Union housing ministry as respondents.
Last month TOI had highlighted how Delhi is staring at a groundwater crisis as there is hardly any enforcement of bylaws, which mandate rainwater harvesting for establishments built on plots of over 500 square metres.
As per an RTI reply, DJB had admitted that only around 1,200 such units across the city have actually installed systems to route rainwater to underground resources, even though under the Delhi Water and Sewer (Tariff and Metering) Regulations, 2012 it is mandatory for all establishments over 500 sq m to install rainwater harvesting systems.
Pre-policy constructions on 100-500 sq metre are exempted, but all the new ones in this size are required to install such systems, high court also underlined in its order.
The bench further noted that regulations were notified in July 2012 which stated, that in case a DJB consumer fails to comply with the rainwater harvesting rules within prescribed time limit, the tariff will be increased by 1.5 times till the system is installed. “These regulations, it appears have not been put into practice,” the HC added.
It also observed that in Delhi “it is a common knowledge that in most parts of the city, groundwater has drastically depleted over the last few decades. Despite the enforcement of these regulations, rainwater harvesting has not been taken up with the seriousness it deserves.
