One of the main reasons for the forest fires in the Capital has been the depleting levels of ground water, according to environment experts. "The green cover takes huge chunk of the underground water. The fires indicate that the moisture content in the trees and shrubs has gone down remarkably rendering them vulnerable to such incidents," said Prof Saumitra Mukherjee, from the School of Environmental Sciences (SES), Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU). Rain water harvesting is the only way Delhi can get rid itself of the problem.