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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

28/06/24 11:45 AM IST

Delhi’s water crisis

In News
  • Amidst a heat wave in several parts of north India, the national capital has been struck with an acute water shortage over the past couple of weeks.
Shortage of water in Delhi
  • Delhi depends heavily on its neighbouring States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh to fulfil its drinking water needs.
  • The capital’s raw water supply comes from four sources with approximately 40% of it coming via Yamuna through Haryana.
  • The raw water is treated in Delhi’s Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) and sent across through its pipelines that covers over 15,000 kilometres. 
  • The Delhi government has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for blocking Delhi’s share of water through the Munak Canal, which is one of the primary sources of water for the capital.
  • The canal, which falls under the Haryana government, starts from Haryana and enters Delhi with raw water.
  • The presence of privately run tankers which are finding illegal sources of water and selling them at high rates is adding to the issue. 
Supreme Court judgement
  • The Supreme Court on June 3 directed the Centre to hold an emergency meeting of its Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) with the States of Delhi, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh to address water scarcity in the national capital amid soaring temperatures.
  • On June 6, the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government agreed to share water resources with the capital in the Supreme Court, promising to release 137 cusecs of water through the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana into the Wazirabad barrage in Delhi.
  • However, Haryana, through which the water must pass to reach Delhi, raised objections.
  • And later on, even the Himachal Pradesh government went back on its statements, stating that water was already flowing in the Yamuna, and that it had made an incorrect statement of being able to spare Delhi 137 cusecs of water. 
  • The SC has now bowed out of the row, stating that it does not want to interfere with the proceedings of the UYRB.
  • The Bench headed by Justice P.K. Mishra said it did not want to either violate or tinker with the MoU settled among the States by even passing an interim order.
  • The issue should be left to be considered by the Upper Yamuna River Board, a body constituted with the agreement of parties in the MoU of May 12, 1994.
Measures
  • Delhi must focus on three solutions to the problem.
  • First, drinking water in the capital needs to be made its top priority; water for irrigation and other works needs to be redirected for drinking water.
  • Delhi needs to thoroughly re-examine its water resources and work on the principles of ‘retreat, recycle and reuse’.
  • The capital needs to look closely at its WTPs and build successful models to sustain its needs. The water flowing through Delhi needs to go into the cycle of reuse. 
  • Additionally, instead of depending on other States, Delhi should investigate its harvesting methods. The spaces in Asola Bhatti mines can be made into water harvesting structures.
  • The Aravalli belt should be modelled into a water sanctuary and the Yamuna flood plain banks into a water bank. 
Source- The Hindu

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