Meet Diwan Singh, An Environmental Crusader Who Rejuvenated Four Waterbodies In Delhi's Dwarka

There are a total of 1,043 water bodies in Delhi, but many of them do not exist on the ground, because they have been encroached upon by DDA, other government agencies, and private individuals.

A report in April said that at least 169 water bodies have been lost due to encroachment and negligence.

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Delhi's lost waterbodies

In March, the Wetland Authority of Delhi had received a request from land-owning agencies including the DDA to delete 258 "extinct" water bodies from the official list of 1043 wetlands in the capital as public and private utilities have come up in their place.

It was stated that private buildings have come up in place of 62 water bodies, 52 are now being used to provide public services, 37 are untraceable, 14 have been encroached upon by educational institutes, 11 have been turned into parks and recreational centres, 6 are being used for commercial services and unauthorised colonies have come up on 5.

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The Delhi government has proposed to bring at least 20 of them, including Sanjay Lake, Hauz Khas Lake, Bhalswa Lake, Tikri Khurd Lake, Welcome Jheel, Daryapur Kalan, and Sardar Sarovar Lake under Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 to revive them.

Once notified, the water bodies will be protected against encroachments, dumping of garbage, discharge of untreated wastewater and effluent from industries, and setting up and expansion of industries, etc.

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Diwan Singh, Delhi's waterman

While this might sound good, Diwan Singh, an environmentalist from Delhi is not that optimistic.

That is because the Dwarka native knows very well how difficult it is to get the authorities to work on reviving the lost waterbodies of the national capital.

Sigh who has been credited for rejuvenating four 'lost' waterbodies in Sector 23 Dwarka, says while the revival process only took a few months, getting the necessary permissions from the government took years.

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"In 2011 we did a survey of waterbodies in Delhi and found that most of them were in terrible shape. We tried to convince the government but did not get any positive response. So we took up on ourselves to revive a waterbody in Sector 23, Dwarka. Based on the learning from it, we managed to revive three more waterbodies. I had to go to court several times to get permission from DDA to do the work," Singh told Indiatimes.

Fight to save Delhi's Ridge forerst

Singh got his start in environmental activism in 2004 when he was a part of Ridge Bachao Andolan to save the Delhi Ridge forest.

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"In 2004 we started a movement to save the Delhi Ridge Forest, which is an important water conservation and water recharge area. The Ridge area is spread from Central Delhi to South Delhi and Haryana. We fought for many years to conserve it. Finally, we managed to get it protected through a Supreme Court order and today the 690 acres of land are preserved as Aravalli Biodiversity Park in Vasant Vihar," he said.

Save Yamuna floodplains

In 2007 Singh took up another major environmental cause - to protect the Yamuna floodplains.

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"This was the time when there was a lot of construction going on in the Yamuna floodplains for the Commonwealth Games. But it was not limited to the CWG village. There were other massive projects lined up on the Yamuna floodplains with a riverfront development plan in the pipeline. In September 2008, Tejinder Khanna, the then Lieutenant Governor of Delhi declared a moratorium on all construction on the Yamuna floodplains and declared as a conservation zone for biodiversity and water recharge. Today it is notified as 'Zone O' in the masterplan of Delhi," Singh said.

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Why Delhi's waterbodies should be revived

He said that if all waterbodies in Delhi are revived, the national capital can generate an additional 200 million gallons per day (MGD) of water.

Based on his experience as a water conservationist, Singh said altering the natural course of rainwater is the reason for flooding and depletion of groundwater levels.

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"During monsoon, the rainwater from catchment areas flows into water bodies through natural drains. But today the water flows into stormwater drains, which flows into a bigger drain and finally to River Yamuna. The same needs to be done now. Instead of diverting all the rainwater to drains, we should allow it to flow into water bodies, which will help in recharging them," he said.

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