A New Solution for City Water:Quality Drinking Water from the River Floodplains

Cities world over are facing drinking water problem. The planners are often over emphasizing on sourcing surface water from far off places. This will involve exorbitant cost and many a times diversion of river flow beyond the permissible limit. Obviously such river flow diversions will have adverse ecological consequences. In this context, the article reinvents traditional knowledge with sound scientific rigour. It argues for ecologically sustainable local solutions for meeting drinking water need of cities from flood plain of rivers. A case of river Yamuna in Delhi has been discussed to highlight the potential of flood plain aquifer as a drinking water source.