Why build so many ghost cities (Hindustan Times 23 July 2012)

It was a long time coming. Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High court barred the government from issuing fresh licences for construction in Gurgaon unless a developer gave an undertaking that no groundwater would be used for building purpose. Originally a village, Gurgaon grew from a municipal town to a district headquarter to what is now a "Millennium City". The new Gurgaon rose from the fields in 1981 when the first construction licence was awarded to DLF Universal Limited, a private firm, for building DLF Qutub Enclave, now known as DLF City, the plushest neighbourhood in the area.

Following this, 400 construction licences were granted to develop 8,000 hectares of land, including the 800 high-rises and plotted bungalows. Consequently, Gurgaon saw a population boom. Nearly 6,50,000 of the city’s 1.5 million people were added during the last decade.

All this has come at a cost. Five years back, Gurgaon was declared a “dark zone” by the Central Groundwater Authority (CGWA) and digging of borewells was banned. Today, Gurgaon is extracting three times of what is naturally replenished. The CGWA warned in 2007 that if this rampant extraction was not stopped, Gurgaon would have no groundwater left by 2017.

According to petitioners who took the matter to high court, the city's daily water demand is 200 million gallons per day (MGD). While 50 MGD comes from the civic supply, the remaining 150 MGD is extracted from the ground through borewells. According to one estimate, there are at least 30,000 borewells in the district. The builders alone illegally extract 50 MGD for construction. And now they are eyeing Noida for water.

But Noida, another suburban town of Delhi, is already going the Gurgaon way with its groundwater table depleting by 66 cm every year. In Greater Noida, the rate of depletion is 27 cm a year. In 2004, the water table of the district was in the safe category.

In 2009, it slipped into semi-critical zone. If extraction continues at the current pace, the water level will reach the critical zone in the next four years.

Local environmentalists allege that property developers in Noida and Greater Noida have been “de-watering” the ground by pumping out groundwater to dry building foundations. In the process, precious groundwater is being dumped into Shahdara drain and other sewer lines. Worried that their city may soon become another Gurgaon, Noida’s farmers’ association has sought the Union water resource ministry’s intervention.

Rainwater harvesting is mandatory in Gurgaon to get a completion certificate to any property built on a plot of 250 square yards and above. But no survey has ever been done to check if these harvesting systems actually work. The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, which had got 270 rainwater harvesting structures designed by experts from Jamia Millia Islamia, has put only 50 to use.

Much of rainwater never reaches aquifers because of underground parking lots in the high-rises. In Ghaziabad, in the absence of any solid waste disposal plant, most storm water drains serve as pits for the 750 metric tonnes of domestic garbage the city generates every day. The Haryana government is yet to cover the present residents of Gurgaon in the master sewerage and drainage network.

Yet, it is developing another 22,000 hectares, mostly through private builders, projecting a 160% rise in population by 2025.

With half of the world already living in cities, there is no alternative to urbanisation. But if we continue to pursue what is effectively a scorched earth strategy to maximise growth with no regards for our own future, we may well be laying the foundations of necropolises.

Demolish Yamuna bus depot: Urban arts panel (Hindustan Times 20 July 2012)

Environmentalists campaigning against a permanent Delhi Transport Corporation millennium bus depot on the banks of the Yamuna got a shot in the arm with the Delhi Urban Arts Commission also saying the construction had no environmental clearance and needed to be demolished.

“Zonal ‘O’ does not permit any such facility in the area. Since it was built as a temporary facility for  CWG (the Commonwealth Games), the Yamuna bed should be restored to its original form. Existing structures and hard-top road surfaces should be demolished immediately. All ongoing construction and use must be stopped,” said a DUAC affidavit filed in the court hearing a public interest litigation on the issue.

‘O’ does not permit any such facility in the area. Since it was built as a temporary facility for  CWG (the Commonwealth Games), the Yamuna bed should be restored to its original form. Existing structures and hard-top road surfaces should be demolished immediately. All ongoing construction and use must be stopped,” said a DUAC affidavit filed in the court hearing a public interest litigation on the issue.

Environmentalists Manoj Mishra and Vinod Jain in their PIL demanded demolition of the depot on the grounds that the construction was against the master plan and zonal plan of the river. “Such concretisation (sic) will badly affect the water recharge capacity of the area and will prove harmful for the river,” they contended.
Questioning the move to make the depot permanent by changing the land use in the master plan from “recreational” to “transport”, the court had slammed the government saying “you cannot make changes in the master plan after carrying out an illegal construction”.

A tale of two rivers: Only one happy ending (Times of India 08 July 2012)

NEW DELHI: Delhi and Singapore have very little in common geographically. The only thing linking the two was their dependence on rivers running through their midst. Yamuna turned into a sewage carrying channel and continues to be one. Singapore's river was probably in a worse state till the 1970s. And that is where the similarity ends.
In a period of 10 years and at a cost of about Singapore $300 million, the city managed to clean up the river completely and turn it into a matter of pride. The water is sparkling clean and devoid of any stench. Where no fish existed earlier, over 200 aquatic species have been documented now. It has become the heart of the city's recreational pursuits while the land along the river has been put to commercial and residential use.
The river had been at the heart of Singapore's trade and commerce, providing an important transportation channel to and from the city, since the city was founded in 1819. "The main sources of water pollution in the river were squatter colonies, backyard industries, street hawkers and vegetable wholesalers, and pig and duck farms...waste water was discharged directly into the river...By 1977, the water in the Singapore river was black, foul smelling and devoid of aquatic life. The river was dead," says a report by the Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED).
In 1977, prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had the environment ministry draw up an action plan. This included resettlement of more than 16,000 families living in squatter colonies in public housing estates and relocation of 2,800 polluting industries to industrial estates.
Till here, the story of the Yamuna and the Singapore river follow a similar trajectory. In the past decade or more, Delhi government has drawn up plan after plan to clean the Yamuna. In November 2000, the urban development ministry made a strong case for removal of slums from the river banks as they were a major cause of pollution. By 2004, thousands of families had been 'relocated' to remote corners. That, however, made little difference, and by 2006, the river was even more polluted.
While Singapore's resettlement plans included providing the relocated families with proper sewage networks, Delhi's slum-dwellers found themselves without even the most basic of facilities. "Some 610 pig farms and 500 duck farms were either phased out or relocated to other areas. Polluting industries and trades were also re-sited to other areas with proper pollution control facilities," says the APFED report.
Delhi, meanwhile, failed to take a comprehensive view of the problem. Singapore set itself a deadline of 10 years and met it; Delhi failed completely. "One agency or department should have been made responsible for overseeing the river cleaning work. In Delhi, there is Delhi Jal Board carrying out projects under the Yamuna Action Plan, DDA developing the city without any concern about water and sewage and the municipal corporation dealing with waste management. There is no co-ordination between the agencies. DJB has spent crores of rupees already and is now looking at the interceptor sewage system as a last resort. This too was to have been partially constructed by 2010 but will now not be ready before 2014," said Vinod Jain of NGO Tapas.
In Singapore, the project was launched under the environment ministry while a high-level working committee comprising various government ministries and statutory boards was set up to look into the implementation and monitoring of the various action programmes. The success of the project is also attributed to the involvement of grassroots and civic organizations, business community and NGOs.
Once the sources of pollution were eliminated, the government set down to develop the riverfront. The river was dredged, quay steps along the river waterfront repaired, the walkway along the river tiled and turfed and large-scale plantation carried out. To merge the riverfront with the cityscape, a 3-km stretch along the Kallang basin was given facilities like piers, shelters and benches.
The project to clean the river officially drew to a close in 1987. From then on, the government took up aggressive development of the riverside and conservation of the river. Before the start of the new decade, the riverside started getting dotted by what now defines Singapore's skyline. A central business district with modern skyscrapers, shopping centres, condominiums and hotels lined the waterway. The government also took up conservation of shophouses, buildings and bridges. In 2007, work on the Marina Barrage, a reservoir at the mouth of the river, drew to a close. Constructed at a cost of Singapore $226 million, Singapore's 15th barrage stores water for the city and acts as a flood control measure.
In April 2006, the Public Utilities Board launched the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme. Under this, Singapore's massive network of drains, canals and reservoirs is being converted into clean waterscapes and being integrated with its parks and gardens to create new recreational spaces.

Recycling waste water to boost supply (Times of India 07 July 2012)

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI: At the World Cities Summit that concluded this week in Singapore, after discussing over four days integrated urban solutions for liveable and sustainable cities, the delegates from 104 countries and regions didn't have to look far for a model. This city state with an area of only 710 sq km and a total population of just about 5 million has in a way become the world leader in harnessing, successfully, new technologies to deal with scant natural resources in a way that strikes a balance between its economic growth and environment.
In recycling its water and waste (to generate energy), collecting every drop of rainwater and channeling it to its 17 reservoirs, carving out wide urban public spaces as the city develops, reclaiming land from the sea, aggressive greening of surroundings and buildings, building a mass rapid transit system, capping the number of cars on the road and keeping pollution at bay, Singapore has shown its 'can do' spirit which is now inspiring other cities.
Water-starved Delhi, which has to depend on its neighbours - and to some extent on a rapidly diminishing groundwater supply - has turned to Singapore for its NEWater - treated waste water that was available for consumption by the participants at the summit. This is collected through the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS), an underground network, built with an eye on the future.
Singapore relies on neighbour Malaysia for about 40% of its water consumption but the agreement will end in 50 years. Anticipating a crunch, the Singapore Water Reclamation Study was initiated in 1998 as a joint initiative between the Public Utilities Board (PUB), the national water agency, and the ministry of environment and water resources. Now there are five NEWater plants that cater to about 30% of the demand. It's also investing in desalination.
"Because of its high-grade quality, most of the NEWater is used for wafer fabrication processes, non-potable applications in manufacturing processes as well as air-con cooling towers in commercial buildings. This has freed up a large amount of drinking water," say PUB officials. The treated water has been put through several tests and its quality is better than what's prescribed by WHO for potable water.
Treatment of the waste water involves a three-stage process, starting with microfiltration, moving to reverse osmosis and ending with ultraviolet rays. In Delhi, a water reclamation plant with a capacity of 40 million gallons per day will be set up at the Coronation Pillar sewage treatment plant. "The STP will supply us with treated effluent which will be put through a secondary level of treatment and then returned to the river about 20 km upstream of Wazirabad for mixing with our raw water supply. We are then looking at two additional treatment processes - aeration and sunlight and then another stage at the water treatment plant," said a DJB official.
The project will benefit 3-4 million people in Delhi. Under the memorandum of understanding signed between the governments of Delhi and Singapore, the project will operate on a public private partnership model with Temasek Foundation providing Singapore $ 463,149 for the plant. "The Singapore government will help Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in preparing an initial feasibility report and a detailed project report. The tender for the project will be issued not before the beginning of 2014 but we are hoping that the work will be completed in the next four years," said a DJB official.

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