Delhi govt promises 24x7 water supply, will plug all revenue loss due to theft, leakages

Senior officials of the Delhi Jal Board said 24x7 supply of water would help bring down the share of non-revenue water – that which is lost due to leakage or tapped through illegal connections.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Tuesday that the Delhi government is planning to provide round-the-clock water to all Delhi residents within the next five years.

People fill their empty containers with water using lengths of hose pipe from a Delhi Jal Board tanker, at Sanjay Colony in Okhla Phase II. (Burhaan Kinu/HT FILE PHOTO)

Senior officials of the Delhi Jal Board said 24x7 supply of water would help bring down the share of non-revenue water – that which is lost due to leakage or tapped through illegal connections.

“We are planning to supply water with good pressure round-the-clock to every household in Delhi. We are confident that we can achieve this target in the next five years. For that, we need to increase the production of water. Within the next five years, we will be able to increase the production of water by 30% to 40%,” Kejriwal said at the Delhi secretariat.

In 2017, a comprehensive analysis done by the Delhi government had revealed that there was no account of at least 500 million gallons of water per day (MGD) of the 900 MGD that was being produced and supplied.

“The leakage of water is extremely high in Delhi. Of the 900 MGD released from water treatment plants, only 600 MGD is reaching the primary underground reservoirs (UGRs) and 400 MGD is reaching the secondary UGRs, resulting in a loss of 500 MGD,” Kejriwal said.

In a bid to ascertain where the ‘unaccounted’ water is going, the government has already installed around 2,000 flow meters and another 1,000 are in the process of being installed. The report is expected in the next six months.

DJB officials said one of the primary reasons behind illegal tapping of water from the DJB’s supply lines is irregular supply and that too for a limited period a day.

“In some areas, citizens still get water supply for only a few hours a day. They tend to tap the DJP supply lines to install extra lines to their houses. If they get round-the-clock water, the tendency to illegally tap water would reduce. We can save and conserve water which could then be supplied to households,” Dinesh Mojaniya, vice-chairman, DJB, said.

This, DJB officials say, would also help bring in more consumers under the network of meters and help the water utility to increase its revenue further in the coming years.