In the densely-populated Sangam Vihar, water and its limited supply is often the reason for skirmishes between neighbours and the cause behind street fights. In the absence of a well-regulated water supply from city's water utility, the Delhi Jal Board, residents of this south-east Delhi locality have to depend on expensive private water tankers and bore wells, some even illegally drawing water from under the ground.
The situation is much different some distance away in Saket, where residents admit that water supply is “more regulated”. The city's inequitable water supply is not a secret. While the city's water utility is busy laying out more water pipelines to carry water from newly constructed underground reservoirs, experts in the water sector want assured water supply to all, to be the mainstay of the government's water policy.
Ahead of the World Water Day on March 22, experts want the agencies concerned to relook at the water security, consumption patterns and current the policy of inequitable distribution.
The DJB spends large amounts of money on awareness about water conservation and consumption, yet there is a growing gap in the demand and supply of water. Inequitable water supply has carved pockets in the city which are parched and others were the supply is more than adequate.
“A lot of people in the city do not get water to drink. It is unfair to say that people are living in unauthorised slums and therefore cannot be given a water connection. Everybody, irrespective of where they are living should be given water to drink and for non potable uses as well,” said Jyoti Sharma, of the non-government organisation FORCE (Forum for Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement), that works in the water sector.
The policy of not supplying water or providing limited water in areas like jhuggi-jhopti clusters and unauthorised colonies she said needs to be reworked. “As citizens we welcome any efforts that reduce wastages in water supply and improve efficiency. However care must be taken to protect the water needs of those who cannot afford to pay higher costs or those who reliving in unauthorised settlements. Water is a basic necessity, so humanitarian considerations must prevail over economic ones,” she added.
Improper water management, which results in “disparity”, threatens the water security of the city said World Wildlife Funds' Suresh Babu. “Not only is Delhi dependant on other States for water, it has done little to preserve its own resource bodies, like lakes, ponds and the ground water reserves. And then there us disparity in supply, while one section gets up to 500 litres a day there are other that get as little as 15 litres a day.”
Mr. Babu said while increasing “household efficiency” is important to reduce the water footprint, relooking at the plans for waste water management is equally important.
“Creating awareness about conservation is not enough. We need people to be involved, we need alternate technological interventions and most of all we need to redefine water management,” he said.
Admitting there is inequitable distribution in the city, DJB Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Negi said the city's “unplanned growth” has been a core reason for this disparity. “There are concerns like inequitable supply, yet we don't leave anyone untouched. Nobody is excluded, even if they get less water,” he said.
“There are just about 65 per cent people who get piped water, 35 per cent are dependant on bore wells, and tankers supplied by us. Our policy is to cover all, despite the constraints. Unplanned growth and high population density in certain areas, pose a challenge in water supply, but the DJB is already working to eradicate these problems,” he said.
Water conservationists and NGOs now want an institutional framework to ensure the basic right of safe water for all.
