Search This Blog

Monday, November 11, 2019

You dont have a water secure future in Noida - unless you do something about it..

12 per cent of India’s population is already living the 'Day Zero' scenario, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient and wasteful water management system and years of deficient rains.

By 2030, the country's water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people.


It is time to go back and start using our traditional practice of rainwater harvesting — catching water where it falls. 
A meagre 100 cm rainfall annually on a 1,000 square feet roof can provide a full year’s supply of water for drinking and cooking purposes for a family of five.


Presently, India captures only eight per cent of its annual rainfall, among the lowest in the world.


NOIDA - overwhelming dependance on one source - Ganga water


The city’s groundwater table has been falling precipitously by 5 feet ever year since 2014.


Every year, 10 % more water than the total recharge of groundwater is withdrawn in Noida. 

Every day, the industrial hub of Noida uses 48 million litres of Ganga water to dilute hard groundwater, making it safe for residents to use. The water is diverted to Noida from a Ganga canal at Masuri-Dasna in Ghaziabad, another satellite town of Delhi, almost 22 kilometres away.


The total demand for water in Noida is about 332 MLD, of which 56 per cent comes from the Ganga, while groundwater takes care of the rest. 


Noida’s draft master plan says that by the end of 2021, the demand for water will be 553 MLD. To meet this demand, 302 MLD of Ganga water will be required. This means Noida will need more than three times the amount of Ganga water it consumes today.


Ganga water supply is periodically disrupted to Noida in the National Capital Region of India. See here too. And here

The authorities then supply water from tube wells. This is expected to have high TDS levels. Residents then complain of  very dirty, muddy water supply. Disruptions can last for as long as a month at a time. 


An official said that at such timesResidents should be prepared for slightly yellowish water as that was the colour of groundwater and low pressure...


Some areas of Noida get the dirty groundwater water supply more often than other areas. 


In any case, several housing societies at any given time are battling severe water shortages. See here and here also. And here


Rising silting on the Upper Ganga canal in 2018 forced the city’s authorities to deliver water to its residents using tankers. It’s imperative for the city to lessen the load on its groundwater.



Upkeep by Noida Authority is negligent

Residents said that even 43 years after its establishment, NOIDA has done nothing to modernize its water infrastructure. 


While work to increase Ganga water supply to some sectors has been going on, it is not keeping pace with spiralling demand. 


For the first time, in Sep 2019, the Noida Authority is testing the quality of the town's groundwaterA report is expected within two months, by the end of November. In the following phase, from December, random checks will be conducted on household water quality.


If the water quality is found to be acceptable at the source but not the consumers’ end, the focus will be on strengthening the supply system – like replacing old rusting pipelines or fixing leakages. 


If the problem lies at the source, water treatment will be taken up on a bigger scale. “Then, we will start industrial scale treatment of water, for which we will issue an expression of interest to an empanelled agency,” said the officer on special duty, Noida Authority. 


Even so, residents say the Authority is negligent about massive freshwater leakages, which can go on for days and weeks with no redressal. 


Many builders in Noida give possession to residents without completing connections for basic services such as water, solid waste and sewerage treatment. Complaints by residents to the authority about builders fall on deaf ears. See here also. 


Even complaints about water quality or quantity, or leakages seem not to be taken seriously by the Noida Authority. 

It is hoped that the ongoing upgradation of the district collectorate office will imporve the efficiency of management. 


Water Consumers need to do more too

In Nov 2019, connections of nearly a 100 institutional water consumers in Noida were cut off for non payment of dues of Rs. 5 lakhs or above. Another 300 large consumers have been served notices as well. 


Communities in Noida make efforts to organize cultural and religious festivals but not to work on their water security, leaving that to the government. 


Treating used water


80 % of the water supplied to consumers is returned as wastewater to drains. Much of this is untreated and leads to pollution of water bodies, leaving even less water to be redistributed. 

File:IndiaPollution.jpg
Image by MilaAdam on Wikipedia
Neighbouring Delhi has implemented some innovative projects to clean drain water and direct it back to the ground to recharge groundwater.

Noida has a total of six STPs across Sectors 54, 50, (two each) and 123, 168, with the capacity to treat a total of 231 MLD of sewage, which is beyond the 175 MLD the city currently generates. 


The Noida Authority, had announced that its sewage treatment plant in Sector 168 has raised its capacity from 50 million litres per day (MLD) to 100 MLD.


“We decided to reuse the treated water for irrigation purposes in the Biodiversity Park located in Sector 91 as well as other green areas located in sectors 84, 85, 86, 91, 93, 137, 138, 140A, 142, 143, 143A and the green area along the Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad (FNG) Expressway." An official said. 


Prior to this initiative, the authorities would irrigate these green patches by extracting groundwater.


All this has an impact on real estate too


16,500 ready flats are unsold in NCR and over 80,000 across the country. 
Among the factors contributing towards low sales in ready-to-move inventory in the NCR are the infrastructure issues prevailing in the area, which includes water supply, sewage and roadways.

Rainwater Harvesting in Noida

In July 2019, the Noida Authority formed twenty committees for creating awareness amongst all stakeholders on water conservation. E
ach committee comprises three members — officials/engineers - across all work circles of Noida Authority that will check the functioning of completed rain water harvesting pits across the city. The committees were directed to ensure that all completed and ongoing infrastructure projects being implemented in Noida were equipped with rooftop rainwater harvesting systems.

Noida has a total of 472 underground water recharging points located in parks and green belts. These are being maintained regularly by the three horticulture divisions of Noida Authority. Wetlands and ponds at five different locations in the city were being restored also. 


Chief architect planner and urban designer at Noida authority says that around 2,432 hectares of green areas in the city can harvest around 740 million cubic metres


However, Noida’s future plan is to stop using groundwater and shift entirely to Ganga water for domestic purposes. Why the city wants to stop using groundwater and invest in sourcing Ganga water from a distant place is hard to understand.


Water is needed for the area's water bodies and wet lands too. Great volunteer leadership was shown by 26-year-old Ramveer Tanwar, an engineer and social activist, who revived around 10 lakes in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.

In 2013, Ramveer organised a small gathering called ‘Jal Choupal’ to discuss water conservation in nearby villages. Issues such as garbage disposal and lake encroachments were discussed in these gatherings. Due to lack of awareness, people in the village would waste water incessantly. They were doing this out of ignorance. Fining them is not a solution.


In 2014, Ramveer started reviving lakes by cleaning them with the help of villagers; they did this by setting up a double filtration system. All water entering the lakes would have to pass through a mesh of wooden planks and then a mesh of grass.To clean the lakes of slush made up of small finer particles, Ramveer, along with volunteers, encouraged farmers to raise 10,000 slush-eating fish. 

1 comment: