Observing that the national capital could become a cess pool by the time all households in the city were connected to the sewage system, the Delhi High Court today directed DJB to get an overall perspective and come out with an action plan to address the issue of sewage treatment.
A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul also expressed concern over the fact that more than 500 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage was being dumped in river Yamuna as only about 400 MGD of the 900 MGD sewage generated by the city reached sewage treatment plants (STPs) which only have a capacity of 604 MGD as per DJB.
The observations came after Delhi Jal Board (DJB) told the court that only 55 per cent of the city had sewerage facility while the remaining 45 per cent will have to wait till 2031 to be connected to the sewage system.
"Delhi will be a cess pool by then (2031)," the bench said and asked what was happening in such areas where there was no sewer system.
The other questions raised by the court were how much sewage was generated by the city, how it would be treated, how much water would be generated after treatment, how much of the treated water would be reusable and potable, and what was the sewage treatment capacity of the city?
As DJB's lawyers were unable to give "clear cut" answers to these queries, the court asked the civic body to either carry out a study "in-house" or if it lacks this capacity then to engage outside experts to conduct the survey to identify the problems and arrive at solutions so that an action plan can be formulated.
It directed DJB to submit a progress report on the next date of hearing on October 21.
The court was hearing a PIL, regarding functioning of Munak canal and water received from Haryana, in which on October 9 last year it had asked DJB and the Delhi government about steps taken towards recycling of water for drinking purposes.
During the hearing, the bench observed that DJB would have
to do some proper planning to take care of the "many fold" increase in sewage generated once the 45 per cent of population was connected to sewerage facility.
It said DJB will have to get an overall perspective regarding how to manage the sewage generated now as well as on increasing the capacity of STPs.
DJB, meanwhile, submitted an affidavit stating that it has completed 84 per cent of the work regarding interceptor drains which would carry sewage to STPs and the entire work would be finished by March 2017.
On the issue of water supply to Delhi through Munak canal, the court was informed that water supply has stabilised after installation of the state-of-the-art water meters.
The meters were installed on the orders of the court.
