The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Jal Board joins hands with CII

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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New Delhi

Delhi Jal Board joins hands with CII

Staff Reporter

Bid to make the Capital a water-efficient city

Joint task force to take policy decisions
Bureau of Water Efficiency planned

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board signed a memorandum of understanding with the Confederation of Indian Industry in the presence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit earlier this week with the aim of transforming Delhi into a water-efficient city.

According to Delhi Jal Board officials, a joint task force has been constituted along with the CII to work together on various water-related issues.

Delhi Jal Board Chief Executive Officer Arun Mathur emphasised that the task force must take policy initiatives aimed at making Delhi a water-efficient city and towards this end all such initiatives must be demonstrable at the ground level.

Mr. Mathur said that although almost 110 MGD (million gallons of day) of treated effluent from the Okhla Sewage Treatment Plant is supplied for horticultural purposes to Lodhi Gardens, Mughal Garden in Rashtrapati Bhawan, Japanese Garden at Rohini and Pragati Power Plant among other places, a concerted effort must be made to ensure that the water supplied to industrial estates is recycled and reused within the industrial estates.

It was agreed that the task force should finalise policy guidelines to provide incentives for the use of water-efficient devices. Mr. Mathur welcomed the suggestion to set up a Bureau of Water Efficiency, which could work as a research and development cell in the area of water conservation, reuse and recycling.

The water task force unanimously agreed that large users of water such as hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools, colleges and other such institutions be taken on board towards making Delhi a water-efficient city.

Creating awareness

“The task force agreed that there is need to create greater awareness about rainwater harvesting and it has been decided that a couple of pilot projects in cooperation with residents’ welfare organisations and hotels should be operationalised jointly by the Delhi Jal Board and the CII,” said an official.

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