Borewells allowed,but not for individual house owners

At the Idea Exchange programme of The Indian Express on Tuesday,Delhi Jal Board’s Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Negi revealed the new policy. Negi said the policy came after months of working at straddling the twin problem of paucity of water and illegal extraction of groundwater in the city.

“The government today issued a formal notification on groundwater regulation,signed by the Secretary,Environment,” said Negi.

The new regulation will allow the digging of borewells only for community use,like for the purposes of supplying water by the DJB,by group housing societies,hospitals,schools and religious places.

“These entities will have to apply for permission from the DJB. A committee to be formed under the Deputy Commissioner will clear the applications. The committee will also include DJB officials,environmentalists and officials from the Central Ground Water Authority,” said Negi.

Noting the fact that a complete ban on digging of borewells can create water crisis in deficient and unauthorised areas,Negi said: “We have realised that borewells are essential in some places,like Sangam Vihar,where there is no piped water supply.”

“A draft Bill was presented by the Government of India as a model to regulate water habits and ground water extraction. While the Bill was circulated to all states,hardly one or two accepted it. The major issue is groundwater. The fact is that it is being exploited by people — either under compulsion or for luxury.”

Taking forward the case of booster pumps,which have often been considered for an official ban by the government,Negi said: “Booster pumps are an important reason behind leakages,and it has often been highlighted that the government should come down heavily on booster pump users— (but) how will a person living on the third or fourth floor get water? When the DJB pumps water at a reasonable pressure,it reaches only up to a level. Beyond that,people have to pump it up themselves.”

While there are tail-end problems in the distribution network,Negi said talk of banning booster pumps as a policy would not work “because it would be counter productive”,and lead to a public outcry as people in some areas would get no water supply at all.

“The biggest problem today is of equitable distribution of water,and the challenge we face is of providing water to all,” said Negi.

Ernst & Young roped in for better customer interface
In an effort to create a better customer interface,the DJB has appointed Ernst & Young to provide complete IT solutions to the civic agency. “It was decided on Monday that Ernst and Young will provide us a complete package for creating a better customer interface,which will also include provisions for electronic billing,” said Negi.