Noida groundwater level hits rock bottom, NGT told

New Delhi: Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) Thursday told the National Green Tribunal that groundwater level in Noida is under "stress" and recommended cap on number of houses being owned by individuals.

"Ground water in Noida area is under more stress than Greater Noida which is currently under developmental stage industrially. Although ground water condition in Greater Noida is generally better than Noida at present, the situation may not sustain when after completion of industrial development in the region," it said.

"It should become mandatory that one family purchases only one house for residential purpose and not merely for investment point of view. This measure will discourage indiscriminate concretisation of the area and will increase groundwater recharge at the same time," CGWA said.

The submissions were made in an affidavit placed before a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar.

The affidavit was filed in response to the tribunal's direction to CGWA to place before it a comparative study in regard to groundwater levels in Noida.

CGWA has further said that after inception of Noida, landuse pattern of the area changed from mainly agricultural to industrial and residential.

"This change brought ground water under stress in two ways. Industrialisation and urbanisation encouraged the indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater and concretisation due to industrial and urban development caused increase in surface run off, thus inhibiting the rain water recharge of ground water," it said.

The tribunal was hearing the plea of Noida resident Vikrant Kumar Tongad who has alleged that real estate developers were withdrawing ground water in violation of its orders.

Tongad had said that the underground water situation has reached critical dimensions in Noida and Greater Noida and there is also a serious water pollution problem there.

On January 11, 2013, the bench had restrained all builders in Noida and Greater Noida from "extracting" ground water for construction or any other purpose.