1. Do you think that the lifestyle of the inhabitants of your town or city reflects
behavior that is in line with the concept of sustainable development? In your
opinion, what should be improved?
The tale of my city- New Delhi, India
By Vaibhav Kapur
2. An introduction to my city, Noida (Delhi
NCR)
According to the 2011
census of India, the
population of Delhi is
16,753,235.
Delhi one of the fastest
In the year March 2011-12, growing cities in the world
the nominal GDP grew by with the population of Delhi
11.34 in the city. NCR shooting up by 40% in
the past 10 years.
Delhi has a per capita Delhi has the second highest
income of approx 1500$, GDP in the country at $ 167
which is more than double billion and contributes 4.94
the national average. per cent to all-India GDP.
3. Why my city DOES NOT reflect behaviour that is in line with sustainable
1a
development
Fast increasing population and lack of infrastructure to support the increasing population
Integrated approach towards waste
Problem Solution management
Institutionalizing waste picking would
necessitate a change in urban waste
management practices. There is a need to
Increased solid waste generation with build up public awareness on the social and
suboptimal waste management environmental component on waste
infrastructure management.
Change in lifestyle of the people has
resulted in increased wasteful consumption,
leading to a change in the composition and Encourage Recycling
increase in the quantum of solid waste More investment in power plants that
generated. convert solid waste into electricity. One
such project is being started in
Okhla(Delhi) that would not only treat
1950 metric tonnes of solid waste each day
but also generate 16 MW power from it in
an environment-friendly manner.
Huge dump sites like this exist within the city.
4. Why my city DOES NOT reflect behaviour that is in line with sustainable
1b
development
Fast increasing population and lack of infrastructure to support the increasing population
Problem Solution
Lack of sewage treatment polluting the
natural resources
The river Yamuna, the reason for Delhi's More focus on decentralized waste
existence, has suffered heavily from pollution.
water treatment plants
At its point of entry into Delhi the river’s
dissolved oxygen (DO) content is 7.5 Maintenance and efficient running of
miligrammes per litre. At its point of exit the already installed sewage
from city limits, the DO level is only 1.3 mg/l. treatment system
It is estimated that out of 3267 million litres
per day of sewage generated in Delhi, 2376
million litres per day treatment capacity
exists and only 64.37% of treatment capacity
of STPs is utilized. roughly half of all the city's A holistic approach for rescuing the
raw sewage goes straight into the river river needs to be adopted as the
increasing population is not only
increasing the volume of sewage but
it is also leading to increase in
demand of fresh water due to which
the volume of flow has decreased.
A photograph of the Yamuna river in Delhi
5. Why my city DOES NOT reflect behaviour that is in line with sustainable
1c
development
Fast increasing population and lack of infrastructure to support the increasing population
Problem Solution
People defecate in open spaces because one fourth
of the households in Delhi have no access to toilet Not only does the city need more public toilets, it
facilities. is important that the ones in place are maintained
clean and hygienic
626 million people in the country - the highest
number in the world - don't have a closed toilet Proper signage informing people about the
and consequently practice open defecation. availability of toilets could also make a difference.
Not only does this cause diseases, it also harms
the environment in the city
Public toilet in Delhi
6. Why my city DOES NOT reflect behaviour that is in line with sustainable
development
1d Fast increasing population and lack of infrastructure to support the increasing population
Problem
Increasing population but lack of water supply
Solution
With no continuous water supply, a large population
washes their clothes in streams further befouling the
environment. According to official estimates, the city’s Repair leakages in the distribution
water demand in peak summer months was more than pipelines. As much as 52% of water
1,150 million gallons a day, but the city got only about 835 is wasted because of leakages in
million gallons a day. the distribution pipeline of the
Delhi Jal Board, which is
13% of Delhi's citizens do not get water supply every day. responsible for supplying water in
Delhi.
People cleaning clothes in the yamuna river
7. Why my city DOES NOT reflect behaviour that is in line with sustainable
development
2a Unsustainable pattern of consumption
Problem Solution
For Depleting Natural Resources
Decreasing natural resources Increase capacity of hydro pwer plants in northern
India, Currently they account for only 29.9% of the
a. Increasing power demand total installed generation capacity.
The peak demand has increased from 2879 MW in
2001 to 5265 MW in 2012.
60.4 % of the total installed generation capacity in
the northern India is thermal power plant, as a
result the coal reserves are depleting.
b. Increasing water demand Implement a new system of water bill in which the
user pays for the amount of water he/she uses,
doing so will curb undue wastage.
The falling ground water level in Delhi has become a
matter of concern. In some parts of Delhi, Water level Seven out of the nine revenue districts of Delhi are
has gone down to 20-30 meter below the land surface. considered critical in regard to ground water
The quality of underground water is deteriorating and in resources. By creating awareness and implementing
several places it has been found to be unfit for human rain water harvesting, approximately 40,000 litres
consumption. of water can be saved annually
8. Why my city DOES NOT reflect behaviour that is in line with sustainable
2b
development
Unsustainable pattern of consumption
Problem Solution
With the extra money people buy more Increase registration tax of all
cars than required. As per government automobiles which will thereby
statistics, the city currently has over 65 decrease the number of vehicles
lakh vehicles which was just 5.62 lakh in bought.
1981. The increase in the number of cars
is one of the main factors leading to Improve the quality and increase
increased air pollution levels and the frequency of the mass transit
respiratory diseases. system.
Picture of Delhi Metro Train
9. Conclusion
The capital of India, New Delhi has a long history. This 2nd most populous city has been
attracting people in search of opportunities from all over the country.
While the city has been growing very fast in terms of contribution towards the country’s
economic growth, it has also been over burdened with the increasing population without
the supporting infrastructure
Unless some measures are taken, the development will keep harming the environment
which may not be sustainable in the long run.
