Gurugram: The difficulties faced by four million residents of Cape Town in South Africa to avoid ‘Day Zero’, a term when city will city completely run out of water, is also being felt in certain Indian cities.
The crisis of water supply to over two million and growing population in Gurugram can be most severe.
The effects of it begin to be felt almost during every summer in the city with large parts reeling under water crisis.
In 1974, where the ground water in Gurugram could be traced at six meters below the ground level, today it has fallen down to levels of 40 meters.
Water scarcity in large parts of the city has resulted in the growth of tanker mafia where water is being sold to the residents at exorbitant rates.
Even as digging of illegal bore wells has been banned by the court, there are over 15,000 illegal bore wells that have been dug up in the city.
In most of the areas in the city, the ground water has fallen to levels of 50 metres.
The challenge towards renewal of falling ground water reserves in the city can be gauged from the fact that over 180 out of 300 water harvesting pits under the Gurugram civic body are defunct.
The government is also planning to set up a waste to energy plant in the area.
There were 4,592 deaths in 2017 due to cancer.