Greater Noida authority to revive ponds to recharge water table
Authority officials said in Greater Noida, the groundwater level dropped from 6.66 metres to 12.75 metres over the past five years-- a fall of 91.41%
The Greater Noida authority has decided to revive the city’s dying ponds, which will help in recharging the groundwater table, officials in the know of the matter.
The move comes after the Uttar Pradesh government in 2022 directed top officials of all districts to start a special drive to revive ponds in villages to check the depletion of the groundwater table.
Authority officials said in Greater Noida, the groundwater level dropped from 6.66 metres to 12.75 metres over the past five years-- a fall of 91.41%.
The authority officials have realised that to conserve groundwater, environment experts emphasise on the revival of ponds, which are vanishing fast in industrial towns.
There are at least 244 ponds in 124 villages in Greater Noida, an industrial town spread over 38,000 hectares. The Uttar Pradesh government had in 1992 established this industrial act to develop a planned industrial town near to Delhi. The city has seen development of industrial, residential, commercial and other areas but the massive construction has also affected the ecology of this region, said officials.
The authority chief executive officer Ravikumar NG has directed the staff put the pond revival project on ‘fast-track’ as grabbing of ponds for housing and other needs have become a common feature.
On the CEO’s instructions, the authority’s additional chief executive officer Ashutosh Kumar Dwivedi on Thursday along with project engineer Rajesh Kumar and others inspected ponds in Ladpura village.
“We have decided to rope in people from villages and also environmental experts to revive ponds. We aim to use the natural processes to revive the ponds and these processes include in situ wetland, automisation, floating island and aeration to reduce the pollutants in the ponds,” said Dwivedi.
Dwivedi has decided to work on five ponds initially and later move on to the other water bodies.
“We will clean and revive the ponds systematically with the help of the people living nearby. The first task is to engage the local community. Once the teams are formed we will first try to connect all village households with the sewer line to make sure that sewer does not go into the pond, as that would pollute the pond and also the groundwater table eventually. Then we will plan trees around the pond, develop small floating islands and use natural methods to keep the water clean,” said Dwivedi.
The drive to clean and revive the ponds will be completed in the next 2 years with all ponds rejuvenated properly, said officials.
“The authority must first free ponds from encroachment. Because the land has become scarce and costly in Greater Noida, water bodies are being levelled to raise structures. The authority must free up these water bodies including ponds from land grabbers and then revive them,” said Arun Singh, a social activist.