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Excessive heat: Delhi minister on hunger strike to demand water for city

A Delhi municipal minister has declared an indefinite hunger strike to demand more drinking water for India's capital, where taps in some of the poorest neighbourhoods are virtually dry in the sweltering heat, according to Reuters. "There are 2.8 million people in the city who are aching for just a drop of water," Delhi Water Minister Atishi stated on Monday, the fourth day of her fast. Every summer, millions of Indians confront water shortages as demand grows in fields, businesses, and homes against a limited supply, but this year's protracted heatwave has exacerbated the problem, particularly in Delhi and the southern tech powerhouse of Bengaluru. The majority of Delhi's water needs are met by the Yamuna River, which slows down during the dry summer months, generating shortages that spark demonstrations and requests for increased water conservation. Atishi criticized the nearby farming state of Haryana for consuming a considerable amount of river water. Delhi, a city of 20 million people, is one of the world's most densely inhabited capitals, with posh suburbs and groomed lawns only a few miles apart from unmanaged working-class areas and slums. However, despite increasing unplanned construction, the city's river water allocation has stayed constant since 1994, according to Depinder Kapur, director of the water programme at the think tank Centre for Science and Environment. "What was true 10 or 15 years ago is no longer true. So, there is a dilemma, and it is a distribution issue," he explained.

Delhi Water Woes: Minister On Hunger Strike Against Haryana

A Delhi city minister has started an indefinite hunger strike to demand more drinking water for India’s capital, where taps in some of its poorest neighborhoods are running nearly dry in the middle of searing heat. “There are 2.8 million people in the city who are aching for just a drop of water,” Delhi Water Minister Atishi said on June 24, the fourth day of her fast. Millions of Indians face water shortages every summer when water demand rises in farms, offices and homes against a limited supply, but a prolonged heatwave this year has worsened the shortfall, including in Delhi and Bengaluru. Delhi relies on the Yamuna River that runs through the capital for most of its water needs but the river slows down during dry summer months, causing shortages that lead to protests and calls for better water conservation. Atishi blamed the neighboring farming state of Haryana for guzzling up a large share of river water. Delhi, a city of 20 million people, is one of the world’s most densely populated. The city’s water allocation from rivers has remained unchanged since 1994, said Depinder Kapur, the director of the water program at the think tank Centre for Science and Environment. The Delhi government is working on plans to improve the groundwater table by reviving lakes and storing water overflow from the Yamuna during the seasonal monsoon rains, but officials say the summer shortfall is difficult to tackle by these measures alone. The politics surrounding the current situation has exacerbated the crisis.

Are solar rooftop installations in India and Pakistan an answer to the climate crisis?

Delhi, India In India, Delhi's state government announced a New Solar Policy 2024 in January 2024. It gives consumers installing solar rooftops a subsidy of INR10,000 (USD 119). All sectors residential, commercial or industrial, also get production-based incentive of up to INR 3/kWh. This is in addition to the 40% subsidy already provided by the central government for up to 3 kW and a 20 percent subsidy for 4-10 kW. The new solar policy mandates all government buildings with areas of 500 square metres or larger to install solar panels in the next three years. It also promotes community-based solar systems – residents of multi-story buildings can jointly install rooftop solar and save money. “But not all the families in the building are ready for this,” said retired teacher Omprakash Raikwar and his wife, pensioners who live on the second floor of a five-story building in Delhi's Badarpur area. In its 2016 policy, Delhi's state government had set a target of achieving 1000 MW of electricity from solar rooftops by the year 2020. However, it met only 230 MW of this target by the end of 2023. The state government’s welfare scheme gives 200 units of electricity in Delhi free in the electricity bill – two out of five families in this building say their monthly expenditure is already low. They say it will take longer for them to recover the cost of installing solar energy. Even after the free 200 units, the price of electricity is higher in areas around Delhi. In Faridabad, Haryana, after using 250 units of electricity, consumers pay INR 6.5 per unit. The cost in Delhi is only INR 4.5 per unit. Economics, rather than the environment, become the deciding factor. Delhi has several private discoms. or distribution companies,  that are responsible for distributing electricity to consumers. The companies buy electricity from producers and then sell it to consumers. This makes net metering more time consuming compared to other cities, says Nishi Chandra, marketing head of Loom Solar, a manufacturer of solar panels and lithium batteries based in Faridabad, Haryana. “On top of that, electricity is already cheaper in Delhi due to government subsidies, so the demand for domestic rooftop solar installation is also less,” Chandra told Sapan News. The higher upfront cost for domestic consumers, delayed disbursement of rooftop solar subsidies, and the Discoms’ loss of revenue with the rise of solar consumers in the city are the main hurdles in popularising solar power, says Binit Das, deputy program manager renewable energy at the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based public interest research organisation. But the high pollution levels and energy surge in Delhi makes this investment all the more relevant, says Amit Bajaj. “When you invest in solar, you tend to keep an eye on any wastage parallelism, because you always want to make the best of what you have invested and believed in,” he told Sapan News. Read more at: https://southasiamonitor.org/medley/are-solar-rooftop-installations-india-and-pakistan-answer-climate-crisis

Reimagining old agenda

The agenda for the next government is the old one, but with a fundamental difference. The fact is that the list of priority action areas remains the same. We have unfinished business when it comes to virtually everything—from energy to water and sanitation to food and nutrition to, of course, health and education. We know that the government has schemes in place and budgets allocated for all these issues. We also know that ensuring the welfare and well-being of people is a work in progress. During this election, as journalists fanned out to listen to the opinions of voters—perhaps the only time when their opinions count—we heard that unemployment is a major concern; lack of clean drinking water and sanitation tops the agenda; the energy crisis is still wicked as the price of the LPG cylinder is unaffordable and electricity unreliable. Farmers are still distressed. So, a lot of work still needs to be done, and in areas that the last government said it had checked off in its to-do list.

The tell-tale signs of urban heat stress

Tap water is boiling hot and air conditioners are not having the desired effect. Such is the severity of the Indian summer this year, that even at night, cities in the northern plains are not cooling down. The relentless heat wave, with little to no rainfall, is exacerbated by the Urban Heat Island phenomena, a byproduct of climate change and excessive urban infrastructure. A recent study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) titled ‘Decoding the Urban Heat Stress among Indian cities’, tracked data in 6 major cities - Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai – and suggested urgent measures to protect public health. While a heat index of 41° C is considered dangerous for human health, temperatures in Delhi have been hovering over that for most part of this season, rendering the Urban Heat Island phenomena stronger at night. “Hot nights are as dangerous as mid-day peak temperatures. People get little chance to recover from day-time heat if temperatures remain high overnight. A study published in the Lancet Planetary Health has noted that the risk of death from excessively hot nights would increase nearly six-fold in future,” said Avikal Somvanshi, Senior Programme Manager, Urban Lab, CSE. Deadly combo The heat stress is not just about rising temperatures. It is a deadly combination of air temperature, land surface temperature and relative humidity that leads to acute thermal discomfort and heat stress in cities, according to the CSE report. With exception of Bengaluru, in all five cities studied by CSE, rising humidity levels have worsened the heat stress. a heat index of 41°C is considered dangerous for human health a heat index of 41°C is considered dangerous for human health | Photo Credit: ANINDITO MUKHERJEE Trends in heat stress will further worsen in cities with climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group-I, Sixth Assessment Report (AR6 WG-I). This is due to reduced ventilation, heat trapping by closely spaced tall buildings, heat generated directly from human activities, heat-absorbing properties of concrete and urban building materials, and limited vegetation.  Action plans According to CSE, heat management action plans are urgently needed to expand green areas and waterbodies, reduce thermal load on buildings and improve thermal comfort, and implement emergency measures during heat wave episodes to protect public health.  India is not the only country facing the brunt of a severe heatwave. Leading athletes, Olympic champions and scientists in a report called ‘Rings of Fire’, have warned that intense heat at the Paris Olympics 2024 could pose a serious threat to the well-being of participants.

Climate change: Volcanic eruption of heatwaves

This summer has seen among the longest prolonged heatwave periods in India’s meteorological history. Soaring temperatures of 45-50°C - some places reported over 50°C - continued for over a month in May and June in the Northwest region. Multiple fire accidents during the same period added to the distress, severely taking its toll on the health and medical infrastructure of the country. The record breaking spell of excess heatwaves created a domino effect and a perfect storm for a series of disasters. It all began with the massive wildfires in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, affecting the quality of air and increasing the heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Frequent incidents of fire in hospitals and high rises followed, leading to unfortunate loss of lives. The demand for electricity to run cooling equipment shot up like never before. And Delhi is witnessing an unprecedented drinking water crisis. Urban heat island The rise in the number of migrant populations in urban areas led to an increase in unplanned urbanisation. Buildings came up in encroached forest areas and water bodies, which are essential for regulating heat in urban areas. For instance, in the 1970s, there were over 200 water bodies in Delhi and its surrounding areas. Now, only 20 such lakes exist. Consequently, cities have turned into urban heat islands where buildings, roads and other infrastructures absorb and re-emit heat, making the urban jungle several degrees hotter than the surrounding rural areas. Health emergency Recent visuals of unclaimed bodies bound in white and polybags strewn outside hospitals in Delhi-NCR due to lack of space in mortuaries captured the plight of the marginalised lot. Reports suggest that the relentless spell of heatwaves claimed multiple lives of the destitute and the homeless. The videos went viral on social media and evoked strong reactions. “Our body is not prepared for such a level of warming in this unprecedented summer heat,” says well known environmentalist Sunita Narain, Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment.

How to address water shortage in our dense unplanned settlements

How do we define a “Water Sensitive City” (WSC) or a “Climate Resilient City” with water at its core? Can it be done abstractly? It certainly cannot be defined in a way that incorporates everything without prioritising actions. In the first part of this series, we discussed the discourse on Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning (WSUDP). Who benefits from WSUDP and how should perhaps guide the theory and practice of WSUDP or WSC framing for cities in the Global South. We then proposed the necessity of a city water and sanitation plan. This entails a long-term plan for each city, aimed at achieving water equity and justice. Identifying hotspots or problem areas for groundwater, water supply, wastewater, and stormwater will inform the development of a WSUDP or WSC vision and plan. This approach shifts focus away from individual projects and detailed project reports towards a city-wide reimagining of water supply, wastewater, and stormwater solutions. For example, a 20-year water security vision for a city could include a roadmap of interventions every five years. Read more: Delhi’s water woes: Megacity should control wastage, regulate industrial usage & address disparity to combat shortage In 2022, Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) proposed a water-sensitive cities framework for the Global South, identifying four parameters or indices for progress towards becoming water-sensitive. These parameters were: Functional infrastructure for water supply and sanitation (addressing breakdowns and underperformance in existing infrastructure); functional and inclusive infrastructure (ensuring accessibility for all, including the less privileged); reuse of treated wastewater and biosolids (a priority for the water, energy, and nutrient-deficient Global South, where faecal waste is a valuable resource for agriculture). CSE tested the WSC framework in 2023 through primary research in Sangam Vihar, a densely populated, unplanned urban settlement in Delhi. The aim was to understand how Delhi could achieve a water-sensitive city outcome, with equity and justice as guiding principles. Informal and unplanned settlements now dominate the urban landscape of most developing countries in Africa and Asia, especially in metropolitan cities. Water conservation and septage management can be addressed in smaller towns and peri-urban settlements through in-situ groundwater recharge and non-sewered sanitation systems. However, what about large metros and state capitals with high percentages of unplanned and informal settlements? There are many such questions that need answers: Can existing problems of low per capita water supply and high volumes of greywater, black water, and stormwater from such large, dense settlements be addressed with one-off retrofitting solutions? Is sewerage-based retrofitting to existing main sewer lines feasible for a settlement of over one million people? Further, we must ask if its water supply deficit can be met by ad hoc augmentation from existing, failing sources, considering the political economy of the water sector? Can stormwater and flooding challenges be addressed merely as drainage issues? If not, what is needed to tap into this as a water conservation resource? Read more: Securing water for Delhi: Looking beyond the numbers game The study encountered several challenges. The first was documenting the existing status of water supply, sanitation, and stormwater systems, which was complicated by the lack of data sources. Enumerating the population and their per capita water supply through a primary survey of 13 blocks was necessary. Once we clarified the population and their existing per capita water supply, we could estimate grey and black water production. We then assessed the feasibility of the sewers being laid in Sangam Vihar — the dimensions of the sewer pipes needed to convey this volume of wastewater through only two peripheral sewer lines to the main sewer line on Mehrauli Badarpur Road. REIMAGINING DECENTRALISED WATER SUPPLY FOR DELHI’S UNPLANNED SETTLEMENTS Sangam Vihar has a low water supply of 45 litres per capita per day (lpcd), far below Union Ministry of Urban Development’s Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation standard of 135 lpcd. The low volume of per capita water supply, affordability, and water quality issues have contributed to the rise of a ‘water mafia’ that controls the water supply and distribution networks. The so-called ‘water mafia’ in Sangam Vihar controls all three water supply sources: Borewells, tankers, and piped water supply. Augmenting the piped water supply can eliminate this issue. Water supply is not only very low (45 lpcd) but also highly dependent on groundwater from borewells. Any drop in groundwater levels can lead to severe water scarcity and high economic burden, as observed in the summer of 2024, when water tankers could not meet the water needs of the unplanned settlements. The 5 square kilometre area of the 13 blocks of Sangam Vihar is highly concretised and built up, hindering in-situ groundwater conservation and recharge. The forest areas on its periphery, with their small water bodies, provide opportunities for groundwater recharge. Read more: Bengaluru only needs urgent institutional makeover of its water utilities If decentralised sewage treatment plants (STP) are built around Sangam Vihar (in the peripheral forest and open areas), the treated wastewater and stormwater from area can be used to fill existing water bodies for groundwater recharge, thereby ensuring groundwater supply for non-potable purposes. ENSURING WATER EQUITY AND JUSTICE A reimagined city-wide decentralised water supply system using treated wastewater to recharge a few large lakes, allocating them for water supply to nearby areas, can ensure water equity and justice for dense, unplanned urban settlements. The CSE study mapped a 10-15 km radius of Sangam Vihar to identify large lakes and nearby STPs. Lakes exceeding 2 hectares (ha) include Hauz-i-Shamsi lake (2.85 ha), Neela Hauz lake (3.65 ha), Old Fort lake (5.30 ha), Bhardwaj lake (11.8 ha), and the largest one, Sanjay lake (74.5 ha).

‘My body can’t take it’: Brutal nighttime temperatures give Delhi residents little respite from India’s searing heatwave

Nights are getting uncomfortably and dangerously hotter in India’s capital as people in the world’s most populous nation feel little respite from unrelenting temperatures. Northern India has endured a scorching summer, with one part of Delhi reaching 49.9 degrees Celsius (121.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in late May — the capital’s highest temperature on record. But the stifling heat persists even after the blazing sun has set. The city is cooling down by only 8.5 degrees Celsius at night compared to a 12.2 degrees cooling down in urban outskirt areas, a report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) last month tracking urban heat stress in Delhi has found. The warmer nights deprive people of rest and recovery from long hours of exposure to oppressive heat, particularly for people without access to air conditioning. Bicycle rickshaw driver Sagar Mandal told CNN that he’s been getting fewer passengers because people opt for air-conditioned taxis over open-air transport. “My body can’t take it, but I have to keep cycling. We are used to physical labor, we aren’t complaining about that. But this heat is not normal, something has to change,” the 39-year-old, who pedals people around the city, said. “No one cares if we live or die, no matter who you vote for this is a problem no one can solve,” he said.

‘My body can’t take it’: Brutal nighttime temperatures give Delhi residents little respite from India’s searing heatwave

New Delhi (CNN) — Nights are getting uncomfortably and dangerously hotter in India’s capital as people in the world’s most populous nation feel little respite from unrelenting temperatures. Northern India has endured a scorching summer — with one part of the capital of Delhi recording the country’s highest-ever temperature 49.9 degrees Celsius (121.8 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this month. But the stifling heat persists even after the blazing sun has set. The city is cooling down by only 8.5 degrees Celsius at night compared to a 12.2 degrees cooling down in urban outskirt areas, a report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) last month tracking urban heat stress in Delhi has found. The warmer nights deprive people of rest and recovery from long hours of exposure to oppressive heat, particularly for people without access to air conditioning. Bicycle rickshaw driver Sagar Mandal told CNN that he’s been getting fewer passengers because people opt for air-conditioned taxis over open-air transport. “My body can’t take it, but I have to keep cycling. We are used to physical labor, we aren’t complaining about that. But this heat is not normal, something has to change,” the 39-year-old, who pedals people around the city, said. “No one cares if we live or die, no matter who you vote for this is a problem no one can solve,” he said.

‘My body can’t take it’: Brutal nighttime temperatures give Delhi residents little respite from India’s searing heatwave

Nights are getting uncomfortably and dangerously hotter in India’s capital as people in the world’s most populous nation feel little respite from unrelenting temperatures. Northern India has endured a scorching summer, with one part of Delhi reaching 49.9 degrees Celsius (121.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in late May — the capital’s highest temperature on record. But the stifling heat persists even after the blazing sun has set. The city is cooling down by only 8.5 degrees Celsius at night compared to a 12.2 degrees cooling down in urban outskirt areas, a report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) last month tracking urban heat stress in Delhi has found. The warmer nights deprive people of rest and recovery from long hours of exposure to oppressive heat, particularly for people without access to air conditioning. Bicycle rickshaw driver Sagar Mandal told CNN that he’s been getting fewer passengers because people opt for air-conditioned taxis over open-air transport. “My body can’t take it, but I have to keep cycling. We are used to physical labor, we aren’t complaining about that. But this heat is not normal, something has to change,” the 39-year-old, who pedals people around the city, said. “No one cares if we live or die, no matter who you vote for this is a problem no one can solve,” he said.