Abstract
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2021, VOL. 13, NO. 2, 199–213 https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2020.1858423 ARTICLE Studying the water crisis in Delhi due to rapid urbanisation and land use transformation a b Arindam Biswas and Druti Gangwar a b Department of Architecture & Planning, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee, India; Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 2 May 2020 The paper records the spatial dynamics and water consumption pattern through Accepted 29 November 2020 statistical and spatial evidence. The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of land use land cover change on water demand and supply pattern of a rapidly growing KEYWORDS urban region. The research analyses data from Census report, local governments and Land use; spatio-temporal spatial data from remotely sensed images. The research finds rapid transformation of analysis; groundwater; water open land to the built-up area, particularly in the North-West, North, North-East, supply network; population South-West and South districts. Inequality of water supply volume and supply pattern density; water inequality varies greatly between the districts. The city continues to experience water crisis such as water deficiency during the peak summer, groundwater degradation, water acces- sibility of slums and informal settlements. The findings will help the policymakers to comprehend the water crisis and consider appropriate mitigation strategies. 1. Introduction nisation is 26.8% from 2001 to 2011. The data also indi- cate that the population is increasing in Hyderabad, The level of urbanisation in the country increased to Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi and decreasing in 31.16% in 2011 and the urban population recorded an Mumbai and Kolkata (Census of India 2011). annual growth rate of 2.76% during 2001–2011. The Delhi’s population density is 11,320 persons per sq. 2011 Census reported a significant increase in the num- km, which is much smaller than Chennai’s population ber of urban agglomerations (UAs) as well. At least, 91 density of 26,553 persons per sq. km Chennai also leads new UAs emerged during the last census period (2001– in population density among the major six large UAs, 2011). The class 1 UAs/towns are accounted for 70% of followed by Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and the total urban population. The number of UAs increased Bengaluru. Even though presently Delhi’s population to 468 in 2011 from 394 in 2001 – a rise of 74 UAs within a density is comparatively smaller than the other Indian decade. Among them, six major UAs – Mumbai, Delhi, UAs, it is expected to add further 10 million inhabitants Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bengaluru are urbanis- by the year 2030. Delhi is projected to surpass Tokyo ing very rapidly. Delhi is the largest UA in the country as it (which is anticipated to decline by almost 900,000 inha- stands out in various demographic parameters like bitants) to become the most populated city in the world population growth, projected population growth, land (DESA-UN 2018). The projected population of major use and land cover (LULC) changes and decadal urban metropolitan cities of India are given in Figure 2. growth. A comparative study of the six major UAs in the While demographic science provides insights on country reveals that Delhi’s decadal population growth is population growth, distribution and the basis for infra- highest among all (Figure 1). The level of urbanisation is structure planning (Caldwell 1996), the land use land measured from the increased population number in the cover systems provide the functional and spatial (hous- cities, which suggests that Delhi’s decadal rate of urba- CONTACT Arindam Biswas arindam.biswas@ar.iitr.ac.in Department of Architecture & Planning, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667, India © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group 200 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR Population growth rate in major metropolitan cities Hyderabad Kolkata Bengaluru Chennai Mumbai Delhi -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Delhi Mumbai Chennai Bengaluru Kolkata Hyderabad 2001-2011 21.21 -7.57 6.98 47.18 -1.67 19.61 1991-2001 47.02 4.79 9.76 34.8 4.11 17.18 1981-1991 51.45 -3.35 17.24 38.44 6.61 39.76 Figure 1. Decadal population growth rate of major metropolitan cities of India. HYDERABAD 1,27,14,000 KOLKATA 1,75,84,000 BENGALURU 1,62,27,000 CHENNAI 1,38,14,000 MUMBAI 2,45,72,000 DELHI 3,89,39,000 0 1,00,00,000 2,00,00,000 3,00,00,000 4,00,00,000 5,00,00,000 Number of Persons Figure 2. Projected population for 2030 for major metropolitan cities in India (DESA-UN 2018). ing, commerce, industry, institute, social and economic experience of NCT Delhi during the period of the past interactions) receptacle connected through mobility two decades and especially how the urban water con- (transportation), utility (water supply, power, telecom- sumption behaves with land use land cover dynamics. munication), service (stormwater drainage, sewage sys- The limitation of this research is that it cannot proceed tem) and public amenity (open green, sociocultural with further in-depth analysis to distinguish between facility, street lighting, reservoir) functions (Biswas 2008; residential, non-residential, public land use and its Seta et al. 2017). Discussions on land and urban water dynamics with water crisis due to the severe data limita- issues dominated by two perspectives. The first perspec- tion. Detailed land use data are not available except the tive focuses on the urban water system and its demand Delhi master plan published in 2007. As a response to through policy reform, spatial and statistical understand- this limitation, the research procures data from remote ing (McKinney 2003; Chong and White 2017; Loucks and sensing imagery (LANDSAT-5 TM), which only informs Beek 2017; Li et al. 2017). These research primarily con- the land cover changes in the city. centrate on urban water demand over land and cumu- lative urban population as a whole. The second 2. Study area – National Capital Territory of perspective refers to the correlation between land use Delhi and water resources (The World Bank 2000; Eduful 2014) in the process of urbanisation. There is less discussion on Delhi officially known as the National Capital Territory the impacts of land-use changes on water-consumption of Delhi (NCT Delhi), is a city and a state of India pattern by relating to the land use land cover dynamics, containing New Delhi, the capital of India. In this growth direction and demographic science. This paper paper, the city is referred to as Delhi or NCT Delhi. It begins to fill the gap in the literature by considering the is bordered by two states – namely, Haryana on three INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 201 sides and Uttar Pradesh on the East. The NCT Delhi NCT Delhi has five municipal corporations – North covers an area of 1,484 sq. km (573 sq. mi). According Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), South Delhi to Census 2011, Delhi city’s population is over 11 Municipal Corporation (SDMC), New Delhi Municipal million while the population of the NCT Delhi is Council (NDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation about 16.8 million. Delhi is the centre of the interstate (EDMC) and Delhi Cantonment. SDMC has jurisdic- regional planning area, the National Capital Region tion over South and West Delhi areas including (NCR), created under the National Capital Region Mahipalpur, Rajouri Garden, Janakpuri, Hari Nagar, Planning Board of 1985 (NCRPB 2016). Delhi has Tilak Nagar, Dwarka, Jungpura, Greater Kailash, R K undergone a series of administrative changes over Puram, Malvya Nagar, Kalkaji, Ambedkar Nagar and the past several decades. NCT Delhi consists of 112 Badarpur. NDMC has jurisdiction over areas of Badli, villages in the rural regions and 113 towns in the Rithala, Bawana, Kirari, Mangolpuri, Tri Nagar, Model urban regions. The total number of Census towns Town, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, has increased from 59 in 2001 to 110 in 2011, while Karol Bagh, Moti Nagar. EDMC has jurisdiction over the total number of villages has reduced from 165 in Patparganj, Kondli, Laxmi Nagar, Seemapuri, Gonda, 2001 to 112 in 2011 (Census of India, D. o 2011). Till Karawal Nagar, Babarpur and Shahadra. 2011, NCT Delhi was constituted of 9 districts. Delhi has grown spatially due to its significance as Currently, NCT Delhi is made up of 1 division, 11 the capital territory, employment opportunities and districts and 33 subdivisions. These districts are socio-cultural pull factors. In this research, Delhi’s growth North Delhi, North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi, pattern has been studied with the help of the urban West Delhi, South-West Delhi, Central Delhi, New growth monitoring system of Bhuvan, an Indian geo- Delhi, Central Delhi, South-East Delhi, East Delhi and platform of the Indian Space Research Organisation Shahdara) (Figure 3). NCT Delhi and the surrounding (ISRO) under the National Remote Sensing Centre of districts from three states combined to constitute the the Government of India. A thematic Bhuvan map national capital region which accommodates approxi- shows the increase in the built-up over the last two mately 26 million people (Biswas, https://www.mlit. decades (Figure 4). It indicates the city’s growth towards go.jp, 2016; UN 2016). the Eastern side during 1999 while the growth was Figure 3. Location of Delhi in India (left) and map of NCT of Delhi (right) (not to scale). 202 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR Figure 4. Map showing urban growth of Delhi over last two decades (Source: Urban Growth Monitoring, Bhuvan). towards West and South-West directions from 2009 and The population of North-East, East, Central and also in 2014. West districts are larger in comparison with the other parts of the city. The ‘dot-density map’ helps us in understanding the relationship between the 3. Demographic profile of NCT Delhi spatial extent of the district and the number of per- Delhi has been one of the fastest-growing urban sons residing in that area (Figure 6). agglomerations in the country. The persistently high The population of the North-West district is highest level of net migration is one of the causes of this rapid among all, but the large geographical footprint allows an population growth. A review of the trends of population even distribution of the population. The population den- growth, population distribution, population density pro- sity of North-East district is highest among all while vides more understanding of the city’s expansion pro- South-West Delhi and New Delhi have the lowest popu- cesses. Since NCT Delhi was made of nine districts until lation densities. The ‘choropleth map’ gives the com- 2012, the district-wise demographic data limits to the parative scenario of districts in the city. Also, it older classification based on the Census 2011. The re- highlights that the North-East district may become satu- classification of administrative boundaries introduced in rated, resulting in the recent-increased densification of 2012 and its relevant demographic data will reflect in the Western districts. South-West district has experi- the forthcoming Census 2021. This data limitation does enced the highest population growth in the recent cen- not alter the cumulative population dynamics because sus decade (2001–2011). The population of this district the total area remains the same after the administrative was already growing very fast over the preceding two restructuring of the city boundaries. Table 1 shows the decades. During 1991–2001 it has already achieved the demographic profile of each district. second-highest population growth rate in the state. The land areas under each as a percentage of the However, New Delhi and Central Delhi have experienced total area of Delhi have been given in Figure 5. negative population growth rate during 2001–2011. The INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 203 Table 1. District-wise demographic details of Delhi (Census of India, D. o 2011). Area (in Population Population Density (p.p. No. of District sq. km) Population growth rate 2011 growth rate 2001 sq. km) Households North-West 443 3,656,539 27.81 60.91 8,254 732,966 South 247 2,731,929 20.51 50.95 11,060 568,863 West 130 2,543,243 19.46 48.56 19,563 530,467 North-East 62 2,241,624 26.78 62.92 36,155 404,676 South-West 421 2,292,958 30.65 61.37 5,446 491,521 East 63 1,709,346 16.79 43.06 27,132 357,173 North 61 887,978 13.62 13.82 14,557 174,779 Central 21 582,320 −9.91 −1.55 27,730 115,090 New Delhi 35 142,004 −20.72 6.19 4,057 32,051 Delhi State 1483 16,787,941 21.21 11,320 3,407,586 growth at a varied trajectory in different districts. While the Eastern districts have saturated in terms of accom- modating further population influx, the Northern, Western and Southern districts are expected to experi- ence rapid population growth. In the coming decades, the city’s growth is expected towards those directions of Delhi. 4. Spatio-temporal transformations of NCT Delhi Figure 5. Distribution of land parcel in each district as a percentage of Cities are continuing to accommodate a large portion of total land area of NCT Delhi. the world’s population. Anthropogenic activities have led to a change in the configuration of land use patterns ‘bi-variate map’ shows the attributes of population over the years. Resource distribution and consumption growth over two decades. In terms of household num- also depend upon the land use pattern. Sirkarwar and ber, North-West district comprises the highest number of Chattopadhyay (2015) apply the spatio-temporal analy- households while South, West and South-West districts sis of population and LULC dynamics on seven metro- consist of more than 500,000 households each. politan cities including Delhi by using satellite data of Thus, the demographic profile of NCT Delhi shows LANDSAT-5 TM derived from the United States that the city has undergone a large-scale population Geological Survey (USGS) for three temporal intervals Figure 6. Maps showing population distribution, population density and population growth in districts of NCT Delhi through dot-density map, choropleth map and bi-variate map (from left to right). 204 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR (Sirkarwar and Chattopadhyay 2015) (Figures 7 and 8). Taking a cue from the study of Sirkarwar and The land use classes studied are – built-up land, agricul- Chattopadhyay (2015), the paper analyses the spatio- tural land, vegetation/forest cover, water body and fal- temporal dynamics of Delhi over a period of two dec- low land. ades and three intervals. The spatio-temporal study of The study identifies that NCT Delhi has experi- land cover changes over the period can help in under- enced an extreme change in the percentage of the standing the resource consumption in the area. It is built-up area over the past two decades. The built-up already documented in a wide range of literature that area has increased from 442 sq. km in 1991 to 682 sq. Delhi is undergoing a rapid urbanisation process, i.e. a km in 2001, which is an increment of 54.30%. The shift from rural to urban areas. The study will highlight built-up area further increased to 1046 sq. km in the intensity and rate of these changes using remote 2011, which is an enhancement of 53.37%. The sensing data. The analysis framework is presented in increase in the built-up area during the period of Figure 9. 1991–2001 has been majorly towards the South and To ensure the accuracy of the study, the LULC maps East direction of the city. Once the Southern and were extracted from Bhuvan, the Indian geo-platform of Eastern parts of the city are getting saturated, the ISRO. This platform provides many services to access growth of the built-up area is gradually channelising open-source data to conduct spatial analysis. This study towards the West and North direction (Figure 8) uses data from the ‘Thematic Services’ of Bhuvan, which Figure 7. Land use land cover change percentage for major metropolitan cities of India. Figure 8. Change in built-up area over two decades – red colour represents area under built-up (Sirkarwar and Chattopadhyay 2015). INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 205 Figure 9. Process of land use and land cover change detection from spatial maps. provides a wide range of data sets at different scales. The being widely extracted to meet the industrial and agri- maps are generated on a scale of 1:250,000 for the years cultural demands. Some percentage of the groundwater 2006, 2012 and 2018 to suit the nature of this study and is also used to meet the domestic or municipal water the data availability constraints. demand. The total municipal water requirement for The process has multiple steps to the actual change municipal and drinking water demand of NCT Delhi is detection and the final outcome. The collected maps are nearly 913 million gallon per day (MGD). The Delhi Jal overlaid to study the change in land cover categories. (water) Board (DJB) supplies 835 MGD (including around The analysis cannot proceed further in-depth at micro 100 MGD from groundwater). The net deficit in the scale, i.e. neighbourhood scale due to the severe limita- drinking water supply is approximately 112 MGD. The tion of remote sensing images and maps of superior planning department of the Government of NCT Delhi scale. So, the study only performs a macro-level analysis. aims to meet this drinking water deficit by additional To carry out this process, the city area is divided into groundwater extraction. Although this initiative may square grids of 14 km by 14 km dimension. The overlaid lead to overexploitation of groundwater (Planning layers are studied for each of the grids and the approx- Depratment, Government of NCT Delhi 2018). A study imate percentage change in the built-up area is by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in 2015 recorded. The schematic representation of the outcome suggests the depleting groundwater situation in North- is presented in Figure 10. West, South-West and South districts (CGWB 2016) The analysis finds that the North-West, West and (Figure 11). South-West districts have experienced a 5–20% increase There are several norms and benchmarks prepared by in the built-up area between 2006 and 2018. The study various public institutions like the Central Public Health also finds that similar pattern of growth direction as and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), detected from the urban growth monitoring system. the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), DJB After analysing the spatial growth pattern, a review of and the Delhi Development Authority. The water Delhi’s water consumption pattern will help to correlate requirement is based on several factors. Out of which, the water dynamics and the spatial growth pattern. the main criteria are the population and other usages of water. The water demand also varies from one city with the other. As per the CPHEEO guidelines, the water 5. Water management and consumption requirement standard for the cities is 60 Gallon Per pattern of NCT Delhi Capita Per Day (GPCD) or 227 Litre Per Capita Per Day (LPCD) (1 Gallon = 3.7854 Litre). As per the Delhi master The rapid urbanisation of Delhi is leading to population resource imbalance due to the limited surface water plan 2021, Delhi’s total water requirement is 80 GPCD allocation for domestic consumption, e.g. drinking (303 LPCD), out of which 50 GPCD (189 LPCD) is for domestic requirement and 30 GPCD (114 LPCD) for water supply. Groundwater, the other source of water is 206 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR Figure 10. Land use and land cover Map of Delhi 2006, 2012 and 2018 (NRSC 2019) and percentage change in built-up cover in Delhi. non-domestic purposes. The domestic water require- gap of 162 MGD during the peak season. In 1991, the ment of 50 GPCD (189 LPCD) comprises 30 GPCD (114 demand-supply gap was 211 MGD in peak season when LPCD) for potable needs and 20 GPCD (75 LPCD) for non- the supply was 472 MGD against the peak demand of potable water. The estimated demand for water in Delhi 683 MGD. The steady rise of population number and is based on the norms of the Delhi’s master plan 2021. density from 1991 to 2011 transforms into a change of The cumulative demand is approximately 1140 MGD to land use and a surge of water demand. A significant meet the requirement of a projected population of 19 percentage of water demand has remained unfulfilled million up to March 2018. Approximately, 83.42% of the from 1991 to 2011. The demand-supply gap during this households of Delhi now have access to a piped water period was 30.89% of the peak demand in 1991, 20.45% supply. At present, water supply during the summer of the peak demand in 2000 and 22.68% of the peak season is being consistently maintained at 895 MGD. demand in 2011. DJB is responsible to supply water to every household NCT Delhi is depended on the neighbouring states of Delhi (Planning Depratment, Government of NCT to meet around 50% of its drinking water demand. DJB Delhi 2018). The largest water supply sources are the established in 1998 is the utility institution responsible river Yamuna and the river Ganga followed by the for the accumulation and distribution of potable water Bhakra storage dam (on the Sutlej river in Bilaspur, after treating raw water. DJB also administers the dis- Himachal Pradesh state) and groundwater sources. The posal of wastewater. Over the years, the water supply water supply volume increases to 913 MGD in 2018 from network has been developed to cover both planned 835 MGD in 2011. The cumulative water demand of NCT and unplanned areas within the city. The Government Delhi was approximately 1080 MGD in 2011. Therefore, claims that it increases the capacity to meet the ever- the cumulative demand-supply gap in 2011 was esti- growing demand-supply gap. The Government also mated at 245 MGD during peak season. In 2000, the professes that efforts are being made to achieve an cumulative water demand and supply were 792 MGD equitable and adequate water supply in all parts of and 630 MGD, respectively. It transforms into a supply the NCT Delhi by laying of new water distribution INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 207 Figure 11. Depth to water level map of NCT Delhi in May 2015 (CGWB 2016). pipes, construction of underground reservoirs and set- mild steel-hired tankers and 250 stainless steel tankers ting up of new water treatment plants. The were used to supply water in the water deficit areas Government is consistently planning to increase water (Planning Depratment, Government of NCT Delhi 2018). supply and treatment capacity in every five-year plan Although piped water and tankers are the major (Planning Depratment, Government of NCT Delhi 2018). sources of water supply in different districts of Delhi, water sources from well, handpump, tube-well, pond and tap water from untreated sources continue to 5.1. Water supply network and capacity operate (Figure 12). The percentage of treated tap In Delhi, water is supplied through an existing water water supply varies between different districts. New supply network comprising 14,355 km pipelines and Delhi and Central Delhi are placed in a better position more than 107 underground reservoirs. Water tankers in piped water supply connectivity, whereas South supply water to communities which are not connected Delhi, South-West Delhi and North Delhi struggle to with piped water networks. A total of 407 new water keep similar water supply standard. tankers with stainless steel containers fitted with GPS To improve accountability and municipal revenue have been engaged in water supply delivery system in generation, the number of metered water supply con- the city. Before the introduction of the new tankers, 400 nections is enhanced over the past decades (Figure 13). 208 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR Figure 12. Distributions of households by availability of drinking water facility and source in Delhi (Source: Census of India 2011). Figure 13. Number of water supply connections in NCT Delhi over the past two decades (Source: Economic Survey of Delhi 2018–19). As of 2017–18, a total of 2,082,967 metered water sup- and service level benchmark. It is mostly due to the ply connections functions in NCT Delhi (Planning excessive water supply than the benchmark in Central Depratment, Government of NCT Delhi 2018). Delhi and New Delhi. Being the capital of India and the The performance of Delhi against the performance residences of parliamentarians, bureaucrats and diplo- benchmarks has been given in Table 2. mats, Central Delhi and New Delhi districts attract special The table indicates an overall deficient performance treatment to keep up the water accessibility of its pro- against the approved benchmark of the Government minence residents. A survey by the Centre for Science agencies. The most worrisome situations of Delhi are its and Environment reveals that NCT Delhi’s water supply limited water supply duration, poor cost recovery, partial range varies from 29 LPCD in Mehrauli zone of South coverage of piped water supply network and its limited Delhi district to 509 LPCD and 462 LPCD in the privileged reach in the extent of metering. However, the average residential zones of Central Delhi and New Delhi districts, water supply per day exceeds than the prescribed norms respectively (Chakravartty 2015). Both New Delhi and INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 209 Table 2. Service level benchmarking for water supply as per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Sl. no. Indicator Benchmark Delhi 1. Coverage of water supply connections 100% 71.5% 2. Per capita supply of water 135 LPCD* 144 LPCD* 3. Extent of non-revenue water 20% 11% 4. Extent of metering 100% 55.3% 5. Duration of water supply 24 h 3 h 6. Efficiency in redressal of customer complaints 80% 58% 7. Quality of water supplied 100% 99.5% 8. Cost recovery 100% 41.6% 9. Efficiency in collection of water charges 90% 78% *LPCD = Litre per capita per day Source: Benchmarking Urban Service 2010–11, GoI, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA 2019) Central Delhi districts are saturated in terms of popula- (iii) Older alluvium – Isolated and nearly closed tion growth and further densification. Due to its func- Chhatarpur alluvial basin and tioning as the administrative and geopolitical centre of (iv) Quarzitic formation – NNE-SSW trending the country, any major change of land use is unlikely in Quarzitic Ridge. these two districts. The trend of low density, frozen land use and much above the standard water supply require- The complex situations of groundwater occurrence in ments is expected to continue in New Delhi and Central different formations, presence of saline groundwater Delhi districts. While the average water supply of NCT at varying depth in the aquifers and growing urbani- Delhi is 144 LPCD, the wide variation between maximum sation influences availability of groundwater in differ - and minimum reveals the necessity for spatial equity in ent parts of NCT Delhi. The groundwater potential of distribution (Delhi Jal Board 2015). Delhi has been shown in a map below (Figure 14). The North-East, North, North-West, South-West and South districts of South, South-West and West show the districts, which are experiencing 5–20% transformation maximum potential of groundwater reserve. of open areas into built form are less connected with The rapid growth of urbanisation affects the availabil- piped water supplies as a percentage of total water ity of groundwater. The rate of groundwater consump- supply. The piped water supply is expected to rise with tion is much more than the rate replenishment, which the continued transformation of the built-up area and leads to faster depletion of groundwater. The Central densification. It also depends on Delhi’s financial capacity Ground Water Board (CGWB) estimated the annual reple- improvement and changing institutional settings from nishable groundwater resources in NCT Delhi as 29, 710 rural and semi-rural governance to urban governance. hectare metre (ha-m) and the net groundwater availabil- Like most of the developing countries, Delhi’s ity of NCT Delhi as 28,156 ha-m. The annual ground draft water loss is proportionately high. Approximately for NCT Delhi (as on the year 2004) is 47,945 ha-m – of 52% of water is accounted for as non-revenue water which 20,002 ha-m is used for irrigation purposes, (Delhi Jal Board 2010). A handbook on service level 21,506 ha-m is used for domestic purposes, 2,137 ha-m benchmarking has been prepared and released by is used for farmhouses and 4,300 ha-m is used for indus- MoHUA, which is being followed to assess the service trial uses (Shekhar et al. 2010). Rainwater harvesting delivery of municipal organisations. considered as a major tool to recharge groundwater proved to be less impactful due to Delhi’s built-up area density. CGWB estimates 175 million cubic metres (MCM) 5.2. Surface water in NCT Delhi runoff for NCT Delhi, and 282 MCM runoff for the river Yamuna, considering 80% runoff coefficient for roof area, The paper analyses the surface water situation in NCT 60% for the paved area and 30% for open area. The Delhi through hydro-geological studies. Delhi can be calculation considers an average annual rainfall of the divided into four distinct hydro-geological units; city as 611.8 mm and seasonal monsoon rainfall as 533.1 mm. Delhi mostly being an urban area, consists of 142 sq. (i) Newer alluvium – Yamuna flood plain deposits; km roof area, 69 sq.km paved area and the remaining (ii) Older alluvium – Eastern and western sides of 485 sq.km open and green area (CGWB 2015). The higher the ridge; 210 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR USD = INR 75). Nine projects for Yamuna rejuvenation have been initiated in December 2018. Eight out of the nine projects focuses on creating sewerage infrastruc- ture. The projects have been taken up in phases in different parts of Delhi (Delhi Greens 2019). Additionally, DJB has also initiated efficient water management through e-governance. A mobile applica- tion named ‘Seva’ is introduced for water bill genera- tion, online payments and the resolution of inflated bills to deliver efficient and transparent services. DJB also introduces various revenue-generating strategies – enhancement of non-free water price of by 10%, increase in the number of piped connections/metres, opening of the one-time window to people to clear off their previous dues, repair of several water leakages, new schemes like water ATMs and GPS tracking of DJB water tankers. Almost 40% of the total-treated water supplied by the DJB is lost due to pipeline leakages, misuse of treated water and unmetered connections. Therefore, leak detection and water conservation are encouraged for improved water security of the city. The government incentivise metered water connection through free water supply up to 20 kilolitre (kl) per month. Domestic consumers who have installed func- tional water metres are not required to pay any charge for consumption up to 20 kl per month. Any consump- Figure 14. Groundwater potential map of NCT Delhi (Shekhar et al. tion beyond this limit is chargeable. In addition to 2010). charge water tariff beyond the free limit, a progressive water tariff is introduced to encourage people to use percentage of a built-up area influences the higher less water with demand rationalisation. The number of volume and intensity of surface runoff. metered connections is increased with new installations and district metering technique at various points in the production and distribution process to reduce water 5.3. Initiatives for water conservation and losses in the network (Aijaz 2020). augmentation River Yamuna, which bifurcates the city into two, 5.4. Water supply in informal settlements and attracts significant attention for revitalisation and reju- slums venation by the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) overseen by the central Government. ‘The Yamuna River project is Water supply to informal settlements and slums is a an interdisciplinary program whose objective is to revi- social obligation of the Governments. Before the supply talise the ecology of the Yamuna River within Delhi’s of water, the Government of Delhi conducted a survey of periphery, thus reconnecting India’s capital city back to slums and Jhuggi Jhopri colonies in 2014 through the water’ (University of Virginia 2019). The third phase, YAP Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and estimated III, has been launched in 2013 after the completion of around 0.33 million households (approximately 1.7 mil- YAP I and YAP II, started in 1993. A total of eleven lion population) residing in such settlements, accounting projects have been taken up by YAP to conserve river for about 10% of Delhi’s population. There are 1797 Yamuna. The Government of India launched YAP III with unauthorised colonies which are to be regularised as the financial assistance from the Japan International per the Government policy (Planning Depratment Cooperation Assistance (JICA) at an estimated cost of 2018). DJB has taken up the responsibility of supplying INR 16,560 million (USD 22.08 Million considering I water for the residents of these unauthorised colonies INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 211 and slum dwellers. The water tankers are the principal of potable water supply are lowest among all the districts supply source for these settlements. DJB uses tankers on of NCT Delhi. Groundwater extraction through tube well a fixed schedule and predetermined locations, selected and bore well substitute piped water connection in these in consultation with the local area representatives. In three districts to meet its water demand. Transformation addition to serve the informal settlements, the water of land use from green or blue areas into built-up areas tankers are also used in localities without the piped will put more stresses on the existing water infrastructure water connection, water shortages during the summer imbalance. Consumption of untreated water also poses or a major breakdown of the water supply network. immediate and long-term health risks. The study also highlights the deteriorating groundwater situation at the start of the summer season. The situation is particu- 6. Discussion and conclusion larly worrisome in South and South-West districts. A The study finds that Delhi’s growth is concentrated at the study by the CGWB in 2015 finds the depth of ground- centre, East, North-East, South and South-East direction. water level from 20 metres to 40 metres at the beginning Very recently the growth is directed towards North-East, of the summer season. The groundwater level exacer- North, South, South-East and South-West direction. Four bates further towards the end of the summer season. districts of NCT Delhi, namely, North-West, West, South- Further densification of these already strained districts West and South districts are spearheading the rapid will put additional burden on its water balance. Most of urbanisation process. A cross reference with the master the water demand projected in the master plan will arise plan of Delhi suggests that the growth has already in these three districts. If the percentage of piped water exceeded the earmarked boundary and expanded in network does not increase in tandem with the rapid the regions designated as urbanisable land. The Delhi urban transformation, further increase of groundwater master plan 2021 has demarcated different land use for extraction will become inevitable. The groundwater the entire city. Urbanisable land of the city has also been depletion will accelerate due to the increased water demarcated without allocating any particular land use. extraction and decreased groundwater recharge. The Almost 60% out of the total urbanisable land is ear- other environmental externalities include flooding and marked on the western side of the city. Almost 20% of waterlogging due to built-up area intensification, Delhi is planned under the potential transit-oriented increased surface runoff and extinction of low-lying development (TOD) zone. The TOD policy prepared by areas and wetlands. the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) identifies the To avoid a water crisis and achieve water security, the goals and benefits of TOD in Delhi, demarcates the city has expanded water management and water meter- influence zone and other guidelines for better develop- ing strategies. The water metre strategy encourages ment. The policy also mentions a mix use, mixed-income people to instal piped connections with water metre development near station areas with residential, com- and obtain free water up to 20 kl per month. A progres- mercial and civic uses around the mass rapid transport sive water metre tariff encourages people to use less (MRT) corridor (UTTIPEC, DDA 2012). The TOD strategy water. The policy aimed at supply potable water to may be influencing the manner Delhi is growing towards every household and reduce water demand through the urbanisable land. However, there is a dichotomy water pricing. The other issue of social distress is the between the emerging growth pattern and resource persistent water inequality between districts. Residents imbalance, particularly water resource. Residents of of Central Delhi and New Delhi have easier access to New Delhi and Central Delhi district receive much above standard water requirement, whereas other dis- above than the water supply per capita standard stipu- tricts lag much below than the water requirement stan- lated in the government norms. Being the administrative dard. If issues are not addressed systematically and and political centre of the country, Central Delhi and New strategically, the water management in NCT Delhi will Delhi districts are expected to receive more water than pose a major threat to its sustainable development. the government standard. The variation in water supply extends from 29 LPCD in South Delhi district to 509 LPCD Notes in Central Delhi district. The transformation of land use into built-up areas is 1. ‘An urban agglomeration is a continuous urban spread growing in South, South-West and North, North-West constituting a town and its adjoining outgrowths (OGs), districts where piped water connection as a percentage or two or more physically contiguous towns together with 212 A. BISWAS AND D. GANGWAR or without outgrowths of such towns. An Urban Roorkee, India. He has Doctorate in Urban Planning from the Agglomeration must consist of at least a statutory town University of Tokyo. He is recipient of the Institute Research and its total population (i.e. all the constituents put Fellowship, ASEM Duo-India Fellowship, DAAD Fellowship together) should not be less than 20,000 as per the 2001 (Germany) and MEXT Scholarship (Japan). He has also under- Census. In varying local conditions, there were similar taken Certificate Program on International Environmental other combinations which have been treated as urban Leadership (Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental agglomerations satisfying the basic condition of contigu- Leadership, APIEL) from the University of Tokyo.He is presently ity. Examples: Greater Mumbai UA, Delhi UA, etc.’ (Census pursuing researches sponsored by different research founda- of India, D. o 2011). tions of Government of India like the Department of Science 2. ‘The UAs/Towns are grouped on the basis their popula- and Technology (DST), the Ministry of Education, the Indian tion in Census. The UAs/Towns which have at least Council of Social Science Research, the Ministry of 100,000 persons as population are categorised as Class Environment Forest and Climate Change and the National I UA/Town’ (Census of India, D. o 2011). Building Construction Company. He is also working on 3. Census towns are areas that are not defined as a town by researches sponsored by GCRF-UKRI (The United Kingdom) the state governments but have urban characteristics (a and the Royal Academy of Engineering (The United minimum population of 5,000, at least 75% of the male Kingdom). He has published two editorial books and contribu- main working population engaged in non-agricultural activ- ted in two book chapters. He has also extensively published ities, and a population density of at least 400 persons per peer-reviewed research articles on urban infrastructure, inclu- square kilometre (Census of India, D. o 2011; Sircar 2017). sive growth, resilience, housing and informality, innovation and 4. ‘Dot mapping is a cartographic representation method regional development. to visualise discrete absolute values and their spatial Ms. Druti Gangwar is currently pursuing master’s degree at distribution’ (Hey and Bill 2014). the ITC Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth 5. ‘Jhuggi Jhopri cluster (JJC) is one of seven types of Observation, University of Twente, The Netherlands. She has “unplanned” settlement designated by the Government completed her under graduation in urban planning (B. Plan) of NCT Delhi. JJCs are located on “public land”, land from the School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal, India. owned by agencies like the Delhi Development She has received the ITC Excellence Scholarship for the post- Authority (DDA), the Railways, or the Central Public graduate study at the University of Twente. She is also an Works Department (CPWD), and have been constructed awardee of the proficiency gold medal for academic excellence without permission’ (CPR India 2014). in the B. Plan program at the School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal.Her under-graduation research work used spatial planning as a tool to mitigate the health risks to water Acknowledgements stress. She has worked as a research intern at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) where she contributed to two We would like to thank the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute for research projects. She has participated in multiple national and supporting this research through the Shastri Institutional international conferences, panel discussions, and seminars Collaborative Research Grant (SICRG) 2018-19 and Dr Joe Qian, related to urban planning, sustainability, and the environmental Associate Professor, Department of Planning, the University of sector. She has also won the national competitions on topics Waterloo for endorsing this research call. We would also like to related to urban planning. thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their valuable suggestions and comments to improve the paper. Our sincere appreciation goes to IIT Roorkee and its SPARK internship pro- gramme and the University of Waterloo for facilitating the research. ORCID Arindam Biswas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6257-0979 Disclosure statement We do not have any conflict of interest with the journal. References Aijaz R. 2020. Observer research foundation. 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Journal
International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development
– Taylor & Francis
Published: May 4, 2021
Keywords: Land use; spatio-temporal analysis; groundwater; water supply network; population density; water inequality
