Delhi third in ‘overexploiting’ its groundwater resources
climate and need more water,” Shekhar added.
In 2016, the CGWB had come up with a separate report titled ‘Aquifer mapping and groundwater management plan of NCT Delhi”. The report stated that water table in several parts of Delhi has gone down eight metres below the ground level.
The water table has been found to be declining more than three metres per year in isolated pockets of New Delhi and northwest districts. Rising trend in ground- water levels has been observed in parts of south, east, northeast, north and northwest districts along the Yamuna and New Delhi, west and southwest districts. In areas close to the Najafgarh drain and industrial sites, the groundwater was found to be polluted.
“Groundwater turns saline and brackish mainly because of overexploitation, due to which the water table falls. The more is the depth of the water table the more stagnated would be the water. Stagnated water will have more salts and minerals making it more saline and brackish,” said N Janardhana Raju, professor at the School of Environmental Sciences in JNU.
The 2016 report had stated that out of the 13,491 million cubic metres of groundwater in Delhi, 10,284 MCM, or 76%, was brackish or saline. The report had recommended that if the saline water resource is utilised after proper treatment then it may cut down the demand for fresh water.