News: Gurugram in crisis: Why parched residents have to pay through their nose for water-13-06-2022
Broken infrastructure, inadequate government supply, dependence on private tankers has led to residents in several sectors spending too much on a basic necessity- water
Since the Mahajans shifted to Sushant Lok 1 from Delhi four years ago, they have been spending a third of their income on water. “I work at a travel agency and earn ₹25,000 per month. We spend nearly ₹8,000 on water from private tankers. Things have not been easy since the pandemic and it’s taking a toll on us,” says Vineet Mahajan (28) who also pays around ₹450 every month to Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for metered water supply, which is patchy. The family of three avoids buying fruits and vegetables to afford water from private tankers, Mahajan says.
In Sushant Lok 3, another plotted colony, Sanjay Singh (35) is worried about shelling out money to the water mafia when he should be saving for his retirement. “The water expenditure is eating into my savings and it’s getting more expensive by the day,” he says.
To be sure, metered water cost is subject to the size of the plot/house and water tanker prices vary from area to area. In Sushant Lok 1, metered water costs ₹500 per floor, and water from a tanker costs upto ₹24,000 per month; in Sushant Lok 3, metered water costs ₹500 per floor and tanker water costs ₹12,000- ₹14,000 per month. The MCG supplies water via Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) in both areas.
Kavita Gulia (41), who lives in an independent house in Sector 22B says she believes it is better to live in a condominium if one desires regular water supply. “We have been booking private tankers for water during the last 10 years and nothing has changed for us. Many people in this area have sold their houses and left. At least they have better living standards and facilities now,” she says.
The story is no different in South City 1, 2, DLF Phases 1 (blocks D and E), 2 and 3, and the sectors between 58 and 115 where residents depend on water from tankers almost every day during the summer.
The Millennium City that started taking shape in the early 1980s has grown beyond its means.
As per Mahindra - TERI Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Habitat, which released a report titled ‘Water Sustainability Assessment of Gururgam City’ in 2019, the city witnessed a rapid increase in population over the past decade due to the availability of jobs and business opportunities but the infrastructure to house it is yet to catch up.
The report says that in 2011, the average per capita supply of water across the city was 136LCPD (litre per capita per day) which is less than the 150-200LCPD prescribed by the National Building Code. The total water supply was 132.9MLD across the city which was less than the demand of 195.4MLD in 2011. Due to the shortage in supply, residents had to depend on water tankers and borewells, which led to heavy extraction of groundwater that forced the Central Ground Water Board, a subordinate office of the ministry of water resources, to ban borewells. By 2019, the government agencies boosted the ability to treat water and increased the supply to 450MLD against the demand of 460MLD, says the TERI report. But due to a lack of pipeline network in newly developing sectors, inadequate infrastructure in sectors 1 to 57, and outdated boosting stations, the challenge remained.
According to a GMDA official, in the last four years, the authority has laid a pipeline network in most sectors, fixed permanent leakages, and are working to fix issues in areas at the tail-end of the supply pipeline.
The situation in condominiums, however, is relatively better than in plotted colonies, because the former is spread over a smaller area (10 to 20 acres on average) and requires a smaller pipeline network and fewer boosting stations, say civic agency officials. In comparison, plotted colonies in the city are spread over hundreds of acres and require large-scale infrastructure, which needs high investment and regular maintenance. It is due to the lack of upgradation of infrastructure in plotted colonies that residents have been demanding transfer of maintenance to MCG, they added.
As per government records, private colonies such as Sun City, Nirvana Country, South City 1 and 2, Sushant Lok 1, and Palam Vihar were transferred to MCG in 2019. Nine more private plotted colonies, such as Ardee City, Rosewood City, Malibu Towne and others will be transferred to the MCG by the end of this month.
The transfer of colonies, however, has still not made much difference in the water situation, say residents. “The water situation is same as before. There is no change despite the handover. GMDA and MCG are in the process of upgrading water pipelines and setting up pumping stations. Until this is done, there will be no change,” says SN Bhardwaj, resident and former president of South City 2 RWA.
The officials of the GMDA, which was formed in 2017 and is now the primary water supplier for the city, say that they have been working steadily to improve the situation, including in tail-end areas. But while they do so, private water suppliers are making hay. In most areas, police say, they operate like a crime syndicate that extracts groundwater illegally, sells it at a premium and is always prepared to weed out any competition. With little choice, harried residents easily become their reluctant customers.
Joginder Singh, former president of the Sushant Lok 2 and 3 Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA), says they are completely dependent on water tankers and have to save throughout the year for water expenses, just like school fees for their children. “Despite so much development in the area, there is a severe water shortage. We pay huge amounts in taxes and maintenance but are still deprived of basic amenities. The authorities, despite being fully aware of the shortage in water supply, try to pin the blame on other agencies and keep announcing new plans to increase water supply but have done nothing on the ground in the last 10 years,” he says.
Achal Malhotra, a resident of DLF Phase 3 and president of the V Residents Empowerment and Welfare Society, which is a welfare body of local residents, says they have been dealing with erratic water supply for several years and despite approaching the authorities many times, there has been no resolution as different departments only blame one another for the crisis. “Last year, we raised the same issue with multiple authorities such as GMDA and district administration but nothing happened. This is a systemic problem and the government should form a committee to look into the lack of supply, low pressure and permanent shortage of water. The people in DLF Phase 3 and surrounding areas have become dependent on tankers. There is a need to fix this problem permanently,” he says.
Residents of DLF Phases 1 (blocks D and E), 2 and 3, which are situated at the tail-end of the supply line, say that water shortage is an annual summer feature. What further complicates the situation is that large-scale construction of houses and floors (with government permission) is going on in most of the phases, which pressurises existing resources. Residents say they have even seen potable water being used for construction activities.
A spokesperson of DLF, the developer, meanwhile, said, “The DLF team is continuously monitoring the situation with regards to the deficient GMDA water supply in DLF City phases. Our teams are constantly working in synergy with the city administration and bureaucracy to ensure our residents face minimum inconvenience due to the ongoing water crisis in Haryana.”
Residents of independent houses in Sector 46, meanwhile, say they have been facing water shortage for over 20 years. “We have built overhead and underground tanks, but during summers we only use them to store water we get from tankers, which the operators charge as per demand. The cost has increased by up to 30% in the last two years,” Rajkumar Yadav, president, RWA.
Sudhir Sachdeva, a member of the Sushant Lok RWA, says that motors at the boosting station in their area often don’t work. “Despite our repeated requests for additional water supply from GMDA/MCG-- which was approved over two years ago-- because of the increase in the number of households in the area, our suffering is only increasing each day and the expenditure on water tankers has gone up manifold. Each household ends up paying over ₹15,000 a month for water from tankers during summers,” he says.
Residents of several pockets in Palam Vihar, particularly the C1 block, say they have been facing a similar situation for over 10 years. They say they even complain on social media at times, but to no avail.
In fact, on June 9, residents of Sushant Lok 1 complained to the MCG and GMDA that they hardly got any water supply for the last couple of months. Prior to that the Greenwood City residents had lodged a similar complaint of water shortage. According to the letter Sushant Lok 1 RWA wrote to the GMDA, a copy of which HT has seen, water is available at low pressure only for about 15 minutes a day for the last few months. The letter also mentions the fact that none of the pipelines or related infrastructure has been upgraded in the last few years.
When asked, GMDA officials said that some private licensed colonies had witnessed a rapid population growth and they were scrambling to keep up with the infrastructure demand. “There is a need to upgrade the pipelines in these colonies to augment water supply. Either the developer or the maintenance agency will have to upgrade the internal pipeline infrastructure for augmenting water supply,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, authorities say they are working to resolve the situation by building a new water boosting station and laying new pipelines.
Rajesh Bansal, chief engineer, GMDA, says that they were building a new water boosting station in Sector 72 to help improve supply in colonies and sectors along Sohna Road and Golf Course Extension Road. Presently the water from Sector 51 is supplied to the outer areas, which can be better utilised locally, he says. “The boosting station will become operational this financial year and help improve supply to tail-end areas. We have laid separate parallel pipelines to distribute water from the boosting stations at Sector 16 and Sector 51 and it has improved the situation,” says Bansal.
Bansal also says that they have deployed Centralized Integrated Water Management System in 2019 on a 15-km pipeline from Dundahera to Basai to improve the distribution of water and ensure adequate availability and pressure in tail-end areas.
“We are monitoring supply in the tail-end areas and taking steps to resolve these issues permanently. There are around 20,000 connections in the city receiving direct water supply and we are now working with MCG to regulate this supply as well,” he says.
Under the Centralized Integrated Water Management System , electromagnetic flow metres, water control valves, and water level sensors are deployed on the pipeline between Basai and Dundahera . They are integrated with the Integrated Command and Control System of GMDA at its office in Sector 44. GMDA officials say that this system helps the authority to monitor supply in realtime, allow remote operation of water supply and help the authority improve distribution of water.
Sudhir Rajpal, CEO, GMDA says that as this centralised water management system has proved helpful, the authority has decided to deploy it on two more major pipelines. “The proposal in this regard has been approved,” he says.
MCG, the civic agency, distributes water locally to colonies and sectors within its jurisdiction across the city. However, due to lack of under ground water tanks in the area, particularly, from Basai to Hero Honda Chowk to Rajiv Chowk, the water is supplied directly to these colonies which have around 20,000 connections. GMDA officials say that the civic body needs to construct underground water tanks in some of these areas, so that water is supplied in a regulated manner. “We have already taken up this matter with the civic body officials,” says the GMDA chief engineer.
The authority has also been able to lay new water pipelines from Sector 58 to Sector 115, which are in developing stage, barring Sector 71 to Sector 80, and this has helped in bringing water to hundreds of condominiums along the Dwarka Expressway and Southern Peripheral Road, officials say.
According to experts, overdependence on groundwater and the lack of adequate systems to provide water in both planned and unplanned areas has led to the city becoming permanently water-stressed and residents facing the brunt of the crisis.
Dr Fawzia Tarannum, assistant professor, TERI School of Advanced Studies, says, “Since water is brought to Gurugram from the Yamuna canal, there is a limited amount that can be brought, treated and supplied to residents. The two canals which bring water from Kakroi near Sonipat also witness losses due to evaporation and pilferage. In such a situation, authorities should focus on rainwater harvesting, recycling wastewater and using it as much as possible, and also reducing the wastage of treated drinking water. The government has started working on steps to provide metered connections and reviving ponds, which will boost the groundwater availability,” she says.
