Tapping flood plains can end water woes
An ingenious and ecologically non-invasive way of meeting the water shortage in the country has been found by a team of scientists working with the Hyderabad public sector consultancy service enterprise, WAPCOS.
The ongoing WAPCOS study, being undertaken for the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), shows that the Yamuna flood plains are capable of providing 250 million gallons of water per day. This should take care of one-eighth of the DJB supply for 2.5 million Delhiites.
WAPCOS team leader V.N. Rao points out that this new source of water is in the process of being thoroughly assessed. As a first step, they are undertaking a study of the Palla flood plains to ascertain the total quantity of water that can be extracted. At present Palla has 97 tubewells and five ranney wells from which only 40 wells are working.
“If DJB was to tap the groundwater from the entire 97 sq km of Yamuna flood plain, it could end up with a potential 250 MGD of water, said Prof. Vikram Soni of Jamia University who is an adviser to the DJB for this project.
Unfortunately, the Yamuna flood plain has been encroached upon, especially between Wazirabad and Okhla belt thereby denying access to this precious resource.
The WAPCOS team believes the principle of tapping the flood plains can be extended to all Indian rivers especially the Ganga, Cauvery, Krishna and Narmada. This will benefit all the cities situated on these rivers including Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna, Agra and Thanjavur to name a few.
“The Ganga aquifers are much deeper while the cities located on it have a smaller population as compared to Delhi. These acquifers will be able to provide even more water than is the case with Yamuna,” Prof. Soni added.
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