NEW DELHI: Groundwater extraction for domestic purposes, including the usage in high-rise apartments, accounts for a significant share of total withdrawal in Delhi and NCR districts, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
In a reply to a question, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said that as per data available with the Central Ground Water Authority, of the total groundwater extraction, around 71.88% in Delhi was for domestic purposes.
However, the figure was 15.62% in Ghaziabad, 3.21% in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 18.6% in Faridabad, 11.81% in Gurugram and 13.24% in Sonepat. He further said the figures represent total groundwater extraction for domestic purposes, including high-rise apartments.
The minister stated that the CGWA is involved in regulation of groundwater extraction at the central level, while 17 states and Union territories, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have their own regulatory mechanisms.
Choudhary said that the authority has also been taking stringent measures, including imposition of heavy penalties and environmental compensation charges for illegal extraction of groundwater, and even resorting to sealing of borewells in appropriate cases.
The minister said the CGWA guidelines stipulate that NOC for residential apartments and group housing societies shall be granted only in cases where the local government water supply agency is unable to supply the requisite amount of water in the area. Additionally, the installation of digital water flow metres in all wells extracting groundwater is mandatory for all residential apartments and group housing societies, he added.
He also said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has formulated the Model Building Bye-Laws, 2016, with focus on rainwater harvesting and water conservation measures. “As per MBBL, all buildings having a plot size of 100 sqm or more shall mandatorily include complete proposals of rainwater harvesting, and, the same is being followed in Delhi,” he said.