Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 111

Indian Politics & Policy
being used in the areas surrounding the
city’s STPs, it is more realistic to suppose
that the treated wastewater from
the closest STP in Okhla has been partially
used for the NDMC parks. Several
individuals in the CPWD described a
“filtered water” pipeline from the Okhla
STP to the NDMC garden areas. With
groundwater levels depleting to over
300 feet in some sections of Delhi, there
has been increasing focus on curtailing
use of groundwater for horticulture and
other nonessential services. In this context,
in 2017, the NGT directed all urban
municipalities to use treated wastewater
for horticulture.
Figure 1. Map of decentralized STPs in the National Capital Region
(created by Pratibha Prakash)
In March 2016, the New Delhi
Municipal Council took the decision
to promote decentralized STPs to help
deal with the wastewater load in the city
and promote recycling of treated water
for functions such as horticulture and
irrigation. The amount of usable water
produced by these decentralized plants
would then greatly supplement the minor
supply they were receiving from the
Okhla STP. The NDMC installed eight
decentralized STPs and has plans to
create over 10 more within its jurisdiction.
These projects will help to reduce
the dependency on groundwater and
begin a separation of fresh and contaminated
water. Fresh water sources from
the upper catchments of the Ganga and
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