A PIL has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the city government and its authorities to urgently take steps for making rain water harvesting compulsory in the national capital.
The PIL also seeks setting up of a nodal agency to coordinate with all the civic agencies and municipalities to create rain water harvesting projects (RWH) “in all government buildings, hospitals, schools, colleges, flyovers, and at all other possible places”.
The petition, filed by advocate R K Kapoor, contends that the authorities should “make it compulsory for all cooperative and other housing and building societies to incorporate the clause of compulsory RWH in their projects and no project should be approved unless it specifically makes a provision for RWH”. The plea is listed for hearing tomorrow.
The petition also seeks that Delhi Jal Board be directed to create the infrastructure required for providing connectivity between the rain harvesting projects and the borewells of DJB.
In his petition, Kapoor submitted that the quantity and quality of underground water in the national capital has gone down.
“There has been a large-scale extraction of groundwater which itself is a result of the widening gap between the demand and supply of water,” the petition has said, adding “the quality of underground water is also deteriorating and in several places it has been found to be unfit for human consumption.”
He has also submitted in his plea that “even 50 per cent of the rainwater harvested could help in bridging the demand supply gap”.
(Source: PTI)
