Water Scarcity in Delhi: Mapping for Solutions and the Way Forward

Almost the whole of India is currently witnessing a massive drought due to the relentless increase in water demand to cater its more than one billion people alongside the growing demand for water for agricultural activities, industries and other allied activities. However, there is a lack of research focusing on water scarcity in India. Central Water Commission data shows that water levels in 91 major reservoirs have reached staggeringly low. This chapter, however, aims to assess the water supply system in Delhi, the capital city of India and the world’s third largest conurbation after Tokyo and Mumbai. Currently, there are nine major Water Treatment Plants (WTP) in Delhi, National Capital Territory responsible for catering water to its 16.8 million people. Using Geographical Information System (GIS) alongside the 2011 Census data of Delhi and taking into account the water supply norm of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which is 60 Gallon Per Capita per Day (GPCD), a simple metric is developed to calculate the freshwater demand of its people residing within the command area of each WTP. For this, the 2011 Census population size of each WTP is multiplied by 60 GPCD to retrieve the approximate water demand of the people residing in each WTP, which in turn allows us to seek the amount of water scarcity/surplus for each of the WTP command area. Based on the findings and the current understanding of the guiding indicators of water scarcity, we map for possible solutions.