The groundwater in the Yamuna flood plain of Delhi (India) and the management options

Excerpt

The National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, India is a water scarce state with a deficit in the drinking water supply to its residents. Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which is the custodian of the drinking water supply to Delhi, supplies around 650 million gallons per day (MGD) (1,066 million m³/day) of potable water compared to the 900 MGD (1,476 million m³/day) needed, which leads to a deficit of 250 MGD (410 million m³/day). The total drinking water requirement as established by DJB is growing in magnitude with every passing year because of the ever-increasing overall population of Delhi. The volume of water being supplied by DJB currently is derived by diversion of surface water from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and groundwater sources. When the city is not able to supply even the drinking-water requirements of the population, it is difficult to meet the water-supply needs of the other sectors, like agriculture and industry in particular, which partially sustain their requirements from this overall supply mechanism. It is therefore quite common that different localities of Delhi are not able to obtain their share of the water supply because of the conflicts in demand and supply. …