Delhi Jal Board to set up 70 more modern water extraction wells near Sonia Vihar

DJB operates nine water treatment plants at Wazirabad, Chandrawal, Haiderpur, Sonia Vihar, Bhagirathi WTP, Okhla, Nangloi, Dwarka and Bawana to supply 935 MGD potable water every day.

Delhi water minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday inspected multiple “modern extraction wells” installed near the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant , and said that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will install 70 more such structures to augment the water supply in the city.

Satyendar Jain said that the government has already constructed 30 “modern extraction wells(ANI Photo)

Jain said that the government has already constructed 30 “modern extraction wells” which can provide 6-8 times more water than ordinary wells. “The modern wells are designed in such a way that water gets purified within the premises and does not require any additional water treatment... The capacity of each well is to supply 1.2-1.6 million gallons of water per day (MGD). This will help resolve the problem of drinking water in east Delhi areas,” said Jain.

A DJB official said that the new wells were constructed as part of a pilot project. “Ordinary wells have a diameter of 0.3 metre while these new wells have a diameter of 1-1.5 metres and a depth of 30 metres. The groundwater will be automatically replenished during the rainy season, so the extraction of water from the well will not have much effect on groundwater levels,” the official said.

The official said that the wells were built by DJB in collaboration with Public Works Department, and the Flood and Irrigation Department.

DJB operates nine water treatment plants at Wazirabad, Chandrawal, Haiderpur, Sonia Vihar, Bhagirathi WTP, Okhla, Nangloi, Dwarka and Bawana to supply 935 MGD potable water every day.

Delhi currently faces a shortfall of over 300MGD in estimated daily demand and supply even as the government plans to initiate 24x7 water supply.

At the same time, large parts of the Delhi have seen a drop in the groundwater levels by four metres or more, a decadal analysis carried out by Central Ground Water Board between 2005 and 2014 has shown. Recent analyses have shown that Delhi is losing groundwater level at an average of 0.2 metres every year.