HC asks DJB to extract water from colony with high groundwater

Expressing concern over high water table in a South Delhi colony where buildings were facing seepage problems, Delhi High Court has observed that the water needed to be extracted from there and directed DJB to obtain the requisite permission for it.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to obtain permission from the deputy commissioner to extract the water from Siddharth Extension area and work out modalities, including the charges, for supplying it to the Railways.
It gave DJB three weeks to carry out the exercise.
The court passed the order after DJB said that as per orders of National Green Tribunal, the deputy commissioner's permission was required for extraction of water by setting up borewells.

The bench said the requirement of permission was due to alarmingly low water tables in the city. However, since there was a very high water table in the colony, there should be no difficulty in obtaining permission.
It directed the DJB and Railways to coordinate with each other and listed the matter for further hearing on January 13.

The court was hearing a PIL by Mohan Lal Ahuja, a resident of Siddharth Extension who had claimed that the issue of high water table has persisted in the colony since 2011 and has caused extensive seepage to the foundations of buildings there and could affect their structural integrity.

According to Ahuja and even DJB, water has been found at a depth of 1.5 metres from the surface.
The court had on several occasions directed the DJB to give a definitive plan on how the huge reserve of 63000 cubic metres of groundwater in that area can be utilised. DJB had said that the water cannot be used for drinking as it had high bacterial content.
Thereafter, the Railways had expressed willingness to use the water as long as it was supplied to it.
On July 8, the Central Ground Water Authority had submitted a report estimating that a total of 63,000 cubic metres of ground water was available in the colony and through de-watering for 60 days, the groundwater level would decline to three metres.