1,209 notices issued over aquifer recharge

AHMEDABAD: Over the past week, zonal offices of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) have slapped 1,209 notices on multi-storey buildings, asking them to show their groundwater percolating wells. These wells were made mandatory in 2001 for rainwater harvesting, according to the general development control regulations (GDCR), before building use permissions were issued by the AMC.In the posh West and New West zones alone, the AMC has issued some 730 notices.

This knee-jerk reaction comes while the government has undertaken the Sujalam-Sufalam campaign to recharge aquifers. “Many buildings have not honoured the mandatory rule to construct rainwater harvesting systems. We were told that the government plans to come out with a new groundwater law for cities, under which many percolating wells must be activated,” a senior AMC town planning official said.
A Central Ground Water Board (CWGB) report from 2016-17 revealed that Ahmedabad sucks out 77% of the groundwater that is recharged in the monsoon. The CWGB has already pressed the alarm, saying that groundwater levels in Ahmedabad have plummeted by between 85m and 125m in the last four decades, pushing Ahmedabad into the semi-critical zone. A 2015 CWGB report said that Ahmedabad district has 20,717 deep groundwater drawing sources for private irrigation and to augment domestic water needs. These include 6,686 tubewells and 13,414 dug wells. This wanton exploitation of groundwater has put enormous pressure on the water table.
According to GDCR norms, all building units larger than 1,000 square metres, must have a rainwater tank with adequate capacity. For buildings with ground coverage more than 80sqm but below 500sqm, a percolation pit or bore recharge is mandatory, while one percolating well must be provided for every 4000sqm of land area.
For plots bigger than 4,000sqm where alternatives to multiple percolating wells are required, the AMC has provided an option of constructing a single water retention pond with a minimum capacity of 3 lakh litres with a percolating well.