After basements flood in GK-II, water supply in area to be shut off, teams to hunt out cause

After incidents of flooding in the basement of buildings in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash-II, officials from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will conduct inspections in the area, after shutting off water supply in the neighbourhood for 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday.

Officials will seek to ascertain if there is a leakage in a 600mm-wide water pipeline laid in the area in January this year. Along with GK-II, water supply is likely to affect part of neighbouring CR Park and adjoining neighbourhoods as well, including Kalkaji and Alaknanda.

Officials said supply will remain suspended from Monday evening to Tuesday morning.

The problem first came to light around a month ago, has currently afflicted at least 100 buildings in the neighbourhood.

SDMC and DJB officials suspect the problem arose due to a “sudden” recharge of groundwater, the cause of which is still not known.

According to a senior DJB official, though they have already checked the newly laid main pipeline for leakages, water supply is being suspended on the request of CGWB scientists.

“The water pipeline was replaced in January this year, and had there been leakages, it would have been detected early on itself. However, after this issue was reported by residents, we dug up four or five test pits around the pipeline on Sunday to check for leakages, but found them dry. The CGWB will conduct a survey of the area to find out the probable reasons and work out solutions,” said a senior DJB official, who asked not to be named.

Meanwhile, water tankers will be sent to the area during the day to help people store water. “Some tankers will also be on standby in case supply is shut off for a longer period,” the DJB official said.

Area MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said the problem is likely because of the rising water table.

“A DJB leakage-detection had inspected the area on Sunday morning. Test pits were dug up, but no leakage was found. Then along with municipal officials, we inspected tubewells installed by the corporation in the nearby market to water parks in the area. It was found that water could be traced at the level of 15 feet underground itself, which is too high. Usually, in Delhi water is found at the level of 300 feet,” he said.

He added that the rise in the water table is probably because areas around GK, such as Sangam Vihar were dependent on tubewells for a long time. Now, he said, a large number of illegal tubewells in and around have been done away with by the DJB over the past two years, as water pipelines have been laid in many parts of Sangam Vihar now. “With reduced extraction of groundwater from illegal tubewells and borewells, the water table has risen. I have also written to the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to join the survey tomorrow,” he said.

Bhardwaj said this problem has previously occurred in many areas such as Nehru Enclave, Kalkaji and even Nizamuddn West. “It was found that the water table had risen in these areas as well, which is also a good sign for Delhi where the depleting groundwater table has long been a concern.”

Residents of GK-II have complained that water has been accumulating in basements for around a month now. The area residents’ welfare association last week also wrote to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and asked for an immediate response.

Sanjay Rana, president, RWA GK-II, said the problem started around a month back when water seepage was first spotted in the basement of a grocery store in M-block market. Later the problem spread to some other parts like E, W and S blocks. He said over a hundred buildings in GK-II are tackling the problem, with some basements flooded over one-foot deep in water.

“It’s not sewer or drain water, because the water is clean. CGWB scientists checked and found that at a few locations the water was available at around 20 ft which was at 100 feet six months back. This is beyond comprehension. So acting on the advice of CGWB officials, the DJB has decided to shut off water supply in the neighbourhood on Monday evening and Tuesday morning to rule out any leakage in its water line,” Rana said.

He said CGWB teams will monitor ground water levels every six hours during the 36-hour shutdown. Residents have been assured that water tankers will be available whenever required in area during the shutdown.

Subhash Bhadana, deputy mayor, SDMC visited buildings that were facing seepage, and said SDMC engineers have checked and concluded that drains in the area were “not the source of the flooding”.

“I have directed our horticulture department to pump out ground water from all tube wells situated in parks at GK-II so that the underground water level may drop. On Monday, a joint team of ground water department and DJB that will also have SDMC engineers will inspect the entire area to ascertain the cause and find solution to the problem. Our engineers are assuming that it might be the case of sudden rise in ground water level,” he said.