Delhi water supply to be streamlined zone-wise, says govt

Each operator will oversee DJB infrastructure in their zone, and the functioning of the concessionaires will be overseen by the DJB

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is working on a policy to deploy private operators to manage water and sewage services by carving the Capital into eight zones—on the lines of reforms by power distribution companies—with a sharp focus on curbing 50-52% water supply loss, senior government functionaries said on Monday.

A DJB tanker supplies water to residents of New Ashok Nagar. (HT Archive)

Each operator will oversee DJB infrastructure in their zone, and the functioning of the concessionaires will be overseen by the DJB, they said.

Delhi water minister Parvesh Verma said that the proposed plan will bring in a “one zone, one operator policy” for the Capital. “Delhi will be covered in eight zones... such as command areas in Wazirabad, Chandrawal or Haiderpur. One operator will be in place for one catchment zone and that operator will be responsible for works related to sewer and water lines, reduction in non-revenue water and billing in that area. This operator will handle services in that area, just like power distribution companies do in their areas,” Verma said.

DJB is responsible for the procurement of raw water, treatment and supply to three local bodies. While DJB is responsible for the distribution of water supply and related works in MCD areas, it also provides water in bulk to the NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board. The board is also responsible for the collection, conveyance and treatment of the wastewater generated in Delhi.

In the latest board meeting on July 2, DJB granted approval to revive the supply network improvement project at the Wazirabad water treatment plant catchment area, covering supply to 3.16 million people, and aimed at covering underserved areas, reducing water loss, and improving efficiency for round-the-clock water supply. Similar projects will be replicated in the other seven zones, officials said.

The DJB has a 15,600-kilometre water supply network, through which it supplies water to 21.5 millionconsumers after purification at nine water treatment plants. DJB estimates that around 2,800 kilometres of its network is older than three decades, with a need to replace or upgrade them to reduce unaccounted water.

The water supply network covers around 93.5% of Delhi, but non-revenue water (NRW) currently stands at 50-52%. The water utility has only 2.9 million water connections, according to DJB reports in 2025, and its billing system also suffers from several defects.

Atul Goyal, who heads the United RWAs Joint Action, a collective body of resident welfare associations, said: “DJB officers should be held accountable and their performance should also be assessed. Privatisation cannot be the only solution. Initially, the power sector saw better services but things are now slowly heading back to the same old levels.”

Bhim Singh Rawat, a Yamuna activist and member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) said that the DJB has largely focused on managing the water supply to the city and its failure in managing the wastewater could not be disputed. “DJB has always behaved as if additional responsibility of managing sewage has been put on it without resources. DJB should get a separate mandate or body to treat and process wastewater in the city,” he said.

In 2011, Japan International Cooperation Agency conducted a detailed study of Delhi’s water supply system and proposed the creation of district-metered areas (DMAs) to reduce NRW and install SCADA monitoring systems. Based on this study, pilot projects were started on the PPP mode in Malviya Nagar, but the project could not be extended to other areas. The contract period for the pilot expired last month and DJB, in a meeting earlier this month, granted a four-month extension to the current operator, officials said.

The DJB official cited above said that in 2023, a similar plan was floated to cover 16 assembly constituencies in east and northeast Delhi, with a capital expenditure of ₹1,595 crore. “The project faced multiple operational hurdles and could not be executed. The new government intends to revive and expand the scope of the project,” the official said.

The problems faced in east and northeast Delhi included cost of rehabilitation of supply lines, combined maintenance of water and sewage lines, and operation periods longer than 15 years. Some bidders wanted the revenue system to out of the scope of the project, officials said.