AT THE heart of the protest against development projects on the Yamuna riverbed lies well-calculated science and concern for water security. In a study on water recharge potential of the Yamuna banks, protestors have found that the floodplains are a "goldmine of water" for Delhi.
In the estimate, it has been found that by concretising the riverbed with various development projects, Delhi loses the chance to save Rs 10,000 crore every year. These estimates were worked but by physicist Prof Vikram Soni of National Physical Laboratory, who said that underneath the floodplains lie Delhi's greatest water asset.
"According to the Master Plan, the riverbed area in Delhi is 97 sq km. The whole of it is course-grain sand up to a depth of 40 metres.
This feature is the key to the riverbed's water recharge capability," he said. This entire area can retain a whopping 2 billion cubic meter of water and the quality of the sand allows almost half of the retained water to be taken out for non-invasive use (not for drinking).
"That means every year Delhi can obtain around 1 billion cubic meter of water from the underground aquifers of the floodplains," he said. Now, if Delhi has to buy that amount of water, as per market value of water, it would cost Rs 10,000 crore.
And the cost of water will only escalate over time. In another study by Delhi University in year 2000, prepared on behalf of World Bank, the economic value of the floodplains from Wazirabad to Okhla for various purposes have been put to a very conservative Rs 711.
9 crore. The valuation of the river corridor was done on the basis of values derived from the hydrological functions of the river by recharging ground water, cost benefits of nutrient retention, fisheries, agriculture, melon farming that the river supports, its recreational value, etc.
"The point is that the river is priceless. So with concretisation the city loses an unmatched asset," Soni said.
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