New Delhi, Jun 23 (PTI) The Delhi government’s groundwater recharge project at Palla floodplain has raised the water table by up to two meters in the area and it’s moving towards the city, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.
In the monsoon season this year, more than 1,500 new rainwater harvesting pits are being built to collect rain water all over Delhi that will be ready before July 15, he said.
The project of recharging groundwater through a 26 acre pond at Palla on the outskirts of the city has been successful and it will be continued for the fourth year, he said.
“An average of 812 million gallons of groundwater has been recharged in the past three years; recharge capacity is to be increased to 20,300 million gallons soon,” the Deputy CM said in a review meeting with Irrigation and Flood department officials.
“In the last 10 years, the groundwater level had gone down by 2 meters, but after the commissioning of the Palla floodplain project, the groundwater level has increased by 0.5 to 2 meters,” he said.
According to the Delhi Jal Board, in a study conducted during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons in the years 2020 and 2021, it was found that the groundwater recharge from this project is moving towards the city from the Yamuna river, thereby increasing the groundwater of the entire city. The water level is getting better.
Sisodia also said the Arvind Kejriwal government will explore new methods and technologies for recharging groundwater levels in Delhi in collaboration with Denmark and Singapore.
The Palla project is currently spread across 40 acres, of which a pond has been created on 26 acres, where flood water is stored and used to raise the ground water level in Delhi.
It was started three years ago in the floodplain near the Yamuna river to collect the excess flood water passing through the river during the monsoon season.
A total of 33 piezometers have also been installed to measure the extent of the rise in groundwater levels at the project site.
It has been decided to continue this project for one more year now. While about 812 million gallons of groundwater have been recharged so far, about 20,300 MGD of ground water will be recharged by increasing the area to 1000 acres, Sisodia said.
The stretch of about 20–25 km between Palla and Wazirabad has naturally created pits (aquifers). The water fills in during the monsoon or floods. In 2020 and 2021, respectively, 2.9 million cubic meters and 4.6 million cubic meters of underground water were extensively recharged, said Sisodia.
A rise in the groundwater level was observed even after regular extraction of 4000 MGD by farmers of the surrounding area and 16000 MG through borewells by the DJB to supply water to the people of Delhi.
The data for the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons in 2020 and 2021 shows the flow of groundwater from the Yamuna river to the city. Apart from this, the groundwater level has improved very fast in the area with the pond as compared to the area where there is no pond, said an official statement.
The ground water recharge at Palla pilot project sites was 854 million litres in 2019, 2,888 million litres and 4,560 million litres in 2021, it said. PTI VIT TDS TDS
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Source: The Print
