Water Bodies Authority planned for Delhi (The Hindu- 27 March 2011)

Smriti Kak Ramachandran
For proper restoration, maintenance of water bodies in the Capital
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Many water bodies have high BOD level due to sewage mixing with water: NGO Tapas
“About 900 water bodies across the city under various stages of maintenance”
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NEW DELHI: For proper restoration and maintenance of water bodies in the city, a proposal has been mooted to form a Water Bodies Authority that will carry out the work of restitution and upkeep. Also for the revival of the water bodies, a team of inter-disciplinary experts will be set up.
These suggestions came up at a recent meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, to take stock of the water bodies' restoration work. Following suggestions from stakeholders, it was decided to set up a Water Bodies Authority in the city, similar to the Lake Development Authority that exists in Bangalore. The Lake Development Authority is an autonomous regulatory, planning and policy body for protection, conservation, regeneration and integrated development of lakes.
“We have requested the Chief Secretary to direct the agencies involved to ensure that sewage is not allowed to mix with the water fed into the water bodies and lakes. During inspections, we found out that several water bodies had a high biochemical oxygen demand [BOD] level in them owing to the sewage that gets mixed up with the water,” said Vinod Jain of non-government organisation Tapas, who was part of the meeting.
“The Haus Khas lake and the Vasant Kunj water bodies, for instance, have a BOD level of 20 compared to the other water bodies where the level is 10. So, we suggested that the Delhi Development Authority [DDA] and the Delhi Jal Board [DJB], that are responsible for the maintenance of these water bodies respectively, are asked to make sure that the water that goes into them does not have any untreated sewage,” said Mr. Jain.
Pointing out that 900 water bodies across the city were under various stages of maintenance, Mr. Jain said the review committee has been apprised of the need to ensure a policy for their preservation and strict upkeep.
“It has also been decided that the nodal agency for the revival of water bodies should be the Department of Environment and a team of inter-disciplinary experts from the areas of civil, horticulture and forests will be formed to look into their revival and maintenance,” said Mr. Jain.
A Parks and Gardens Society will be asked to work on the development of each water body on a public-private partnership model. In the Ridge Area, water bodies will be maintained by the Forest Department. Geographic Information System will be used to mark each water body, so that their boundaries can be defined and areas used as greens.
“It was also decided that to restore the water bodies less concrete and cement will be used and more stress will be on the greening aspect. It was suggested that water bodies should be treated as greens. The DJB and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will ensure that only water from rain water harvesting be used to revive water bodies, and sewage water be treated before being released into them,” said Mr. Jain.
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