gurugram: To improve the groundwater situation in Gurugram, the district administration has set a target of reviving over 50 water bodies in the district. In addition to revival of water bodies, it is also planning to develop green areas or parks around some of the water bodies where additional land is available.
The Haryana government had started Gurujal initiative, a public private partnership model to revive water bodies and also find ways to enhance groundwater reserves.
Ever since Gurujal has begun functioning from late 2018, over 12 water bodies have been revived in and around Gurugram. The pace of work for the revival has been affected in the last two years due to COVID-19. However, with the situation slightly improving now on the COVID front and the district administration is once again expected to expedite the process.
In addition to restoration of some water bodies like Wazirabad and Sikanderpur, the Gurugram district administration in partnership with several multinational companies and civil society members are also in the process of setting up more water bodies especially in the Aravalli forests.There are also plans to encourage rainwater harvesting in more residential and commercial establishments in the city in 2022.
In what has proved to be a major concern for long, the levels of ground water situation continue to dip in Gurugram and it only seems to be deteriorating every year.
Despite the prevalence of COVID-19 in the last few months resulting in less construction and building activities, groundwater level has further dipped to 36.99 meters this year in 2021. According to the Haryana government figures in 2020, the groundwater had gone down to the level of 36.21 meters. In 2019, it was 35.85 meters and 33.23 meters in 2018.