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Move to check groundwater pollution

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Delhi Jal Board proposes to set up interceptor sewers

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board is hopeful that its proposal for setting up interceptor sewers will check further deterioration of groundwater in the Capital.

The absence of proper disposal and treatment of sewage in the city has had an adverse impact on the quality of groundwater.

Sources in the Jal Board, which draws up to 80 million gallons per day of water from the ground, said the major drains in the city allow percolation of sewage into the ground, which in turn leads to rise in the levels of harmful chemicals and compounds like nitrate and fluoride in water.

"It was the job of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department to ensure that these drains are made `pucca' (solid) up to a certain level. But the department citing constraints has failed to do so. If these drains were made `pucca' then they would have allowed both the recharge of groundwater and saved it from getting contaminated," said a senior Jal Board official.

"Legal authority"

Stating that "the Board has no legal authority to deal with boring of tube-wells and checking the quality of ground water", the official explained, "the interceptor sewers will check the penetration of undesirable elements into the ground. They will collect untreated effluents and prevent them from mixing with the treated sewage in the main drains, which should ideally carry only rainwater''.

Fluoride content

According to the Central Ground Water Board, which has also identified unlined sewers as a cause for contamination of groundwater, in over 30 per cent of the area in the city, the fluoride content in groundwater is more than the permissible limit of 1.5 mg/l. High levels of nitrate pollution in groundwater has also been noticed in South-West Delhi, and some pockets of North-West Delhi and West Delhi.

The Central Ground Water Board has attributed the high concentration of nitrate near the western bank of the Yamuna to a combined effect of contamination from domestic sewage, livestock rearing, landfills and run off from fertilised fields and cattle sheds.

The expert committee constituted by the Supreme Court to study the Delhi Jal Board's proposal of setting up interceptor sewers has also observed that the existing non-functional sewerage system should be set right so that storm water drains are not utilised for sewage.

Emphasising the need for protection of groundwater from being polluted, the expert committee said: "The interceptor sewers by virtue of preventing untreated effluents from entering major drains serve the purpose of protecting groundwater from getting polluted".

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