Ammonia plant delayed as nod pending for fund allocation file: Delhi Jal Board

Announcing the facility in March, the government said that the plant will help treat polluted water entering the Yamuna from Haryana

A Delhi Jal Board plant to treat high level of ammonia in the Yamuna water that was announced in March will be delayed as the funds for the project are yet to be cleared, the water utility officials said on Thursday.

DJB faces the problem of high ammonia level in Yamuna water throughout the year, but it is relatively acute between January and March, DJB officials said. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Announcing to set up the facility in March, the Delhi government said that the ammonia removal plant to will help treat polluted water entering the Yamuna from Haryana.

A senior DJB official said the plant is expected to come up near the Wazirabad pond area. “The file approval for this project has been pending since May earlier this year. There has been no progress on this project. Several projects are affected due to meetings of technical committees not being held and financial approvals not being granted. After all permissions are granted, the portable plant is likely to be set up in four to five months so it is unlikely to be in place in the next six months,” the official said, asking not to be named.

A finance department offficial, however, said that the proposal has not been sent to them.

DJB faces the problem of high ammonia level in Yamuna water throughout the year, but it is relatively acute between January and March, DJB officials said.

They added that untreated water from industries in Haryana predominantly causes high levels of ammonia in the river water, a charge repeatedly denied by the Haryana government.

Currently, the water utility is equipped to treat ammonia levels by adding chlorine, but only up to the 0.9ppm level. The officials said that chlorination beyond this limit leads to the production of toxic chloramine compounds. Whenever ammonia levels breach the 1ppm mark, water production at Delhi Jal Board treatment plants is hit, they said.

Officials say that advisories about this are issued 15-20 times every year and in some instances the ammonia levels increase to 10 times the the maximum treatable limit.

“We try to divert water from other sources to dilute the raw water to keep the operations running. However, the ammonia treatment plant can increase the treatment capacity up to 4-5ppm which will help us keep the operations running even if the ammonia levels breach the 1ppm mark,” the DJB official said.

Of the total 1,000 MGD of Delhi’s daily water supply-- over 235 MGD is supplied by Chandrawal and Wazirabad plants both of which draw water from Wazirabad pond fed by raw water from the Yamuna.