Ammonia spike in Yamuna hits water supply to north Delhi
Wazirabad, Malka Ganj, Ghantaghar, Model Town and Paharganj were worst hit due to shortfall of 70 million gallon a day (mgd) of water
New Delhi
High levels of pollutants and a spike in ammonia levels in the raw water of Yamuna led to another disruption of water supply in the Capital over the past three days, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said, adding that north Delhi areas of Wazirabad, Malka Ganj, Ghantaghar, Model Town and Paharganj were worst hit due to shortfall of 70 million gallon a day (mgd) of water.
Operations at two of the nine water treatment plants were hit. A DJB official said that with an increased inflow of water, there has been a notable spike in algae as well as ammonia levels over the past three to four days. The ammonia level on Thursday was 2.3ppmat Wazirabad barrage, which was2.5 timesthe maximum treatable limit.
DJB can treat up to 0.9 ppm of ammonia level in raw water, but beyond such a high level, neutralisation of ammonia with chlorine gas regularly leads to toxic chloramine compounds. The Wazirabad Barrage in north Delhi is the primary holding area, from where raw water coming through the Yamuna is lifted to the Wazirabad and Chandrawal treatment plants.
Periodic spikes in ammonia levels have been a long-standing point of dispute between Delhi and Haryana. DJB argues that the pollutants, such as dyes, chlorides and ammonia-based chemicals, flow from the Panipat industrial dye drain. Besides Panipat, DJB also regularly cites the intermixing of industrial waste in Sonepat, where two canals carrying freshwater and industrial water run parallel to each other, separated by a sand wall of a few inches. Haryana has maintained that there are no leaking pollution sources in its industrial areas.
Delhi has seen multiple supply disruption issues over the last two months due to issues ranging from low availability of raw water in the river, a section of Munak canal getting breached near Bawana to high turbidity and ammonia levels.
According to DJB’s water supply bulletin for Thursday, the city was supplied 930mgd of potable water against the normal supply of 1,000mgd. The report said that water supply production was hampered at both Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants, both of which directly receive raw water from Yamuna.
Reports of the DJB show that the water utility supplied 998mgd water on July 22, which came down to 971mgd on July 23 and further to 930mgd on July 24. As per the July 24 bulletin, the Wazirabad plant was supplying 105mgd of water, against the capacity of 134mgd. The facility serves as the catchment area for central and north Delhi, and parts of New Delhi.
Similarly, the Chandrawal plant, which supplies water to north, west and central Delhi, was operating at 70mgd level against its capacity of 98mgd. DJB estimates that a shortfall of 1mgd water impacts more than 21,500 people.
Ashok Bhasin, who heads the North Delhi RWA Federation, said that Chandrawal, Azad Market, Filmistan, Malkagnaj and Sabzi Mandi did not receive water on Wednesday and Thursday. “There is hardly any pressure in the water supply. In another day, the stored water in overhead tanks will also be exhausted. We have been hearing about rise in ammonia for decades. Why are the treatment plants not being upgraded?”
Vijay Kanojia, a trader in Paharganj, said that the supply in the tail-end of Paharganj was also disrupted.
Rajesh Pandey, a resident of Malkaganj, said that the residential area has “not received a drop of water” during the evening supply hours on Wednesday and the entirety of Thursday. “If there is heavy rainfall upstream, should the pollutants now wash away? Our area should be supplied water for at least an hour for a day,” he said.