Water harvesting pit mandatory to receive occupation certificate: DTCP

GURUGRAM: To counter the increasing water crisis, the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) is planning to bring in in the retrospective law of setting up water harvesting pits in at least 200 square yards plots. Moreover, the pits for water harvesting will be one of the key parameters for obtaining the occupation certificate. It is interesting to note that the law was first formulated in 2011 but was not implemented strictly by the officials. Sources indicate that the Chief Minister has taken cognisance of the falling groundwater reserves in the city and has asked the officials to implement the move.

The district administration had also directed various private schools to have a large area to create water harvesting pits. However, this action was also not followed up. Besides recharging the water levels, rainwater harvesting pits is also expected to improve to drain- age systems of the city that again is proving to be a major civic challenge in the Millennium city. The impact of water crisis cannot be felt more than the residents of Gurugram wherein the past decade, 82 per cent of the groundwater reserves have depleted.

Over half of the residents get their water through borewell and groundwater extraction. Despite a ban by the court to dig illegal borewells, over 15,000 illegal borewells are operating in the city.