Capital’s water production now nearly 1k million gallons a day: CM

Kejriwal, who inspected the two lakes being developed around the Rohini sewage treatment plant, said that for the first time in 15-20 years, ‘Delhi’s water production levels have increased from 930 MGD to 990 MGD.’

New Delhi: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the water production in Delhi has increased from 930MGD to 990MGD and stressed that besides cleaning the Yamuna, the Delhi government is constantly increasing its production capacity to ensure 24x7 water supply to residents.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during inspection of construction of two lakes near Rohini Sewage Treatment plant (STP), in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

“We are developing several lakes alongside the Rohini STP; we aim to treat water and use it to increase groundwater levels. We are working on a unique mix of natural and scientific methods to prevent sewage from falling into the Yamuna. Our experiments have proven to be highly successful; for the first time in 15-20 years Delhi’s water production levels have increased from 930 MGD to 990 MGD,” Kejriwal said, after inspecting two lakes being developed around the Rohini sewage treatment plant, which treats 15MGD of water every day.

Delhi gets water from neighbouring states but the AAP government claims the supply is low and has asked the Centre to increase its share. Before summer, the Delhi Jal Board had said it will increase the daily water production to approximately 1,000 MGD.

Kejriwal said that Delhi gets water from neighbouring states as per the allotment made in the 90s by the Supreme Court and noted that the amount has not been increased since. “Delhi’s population was less than one crore in the 90s; it has increased to 2.5 crores now. We are trying to augment Delhi’s water production capacity both by implementing measures internally and asking the Centre to increase Delhi’s share of water coming from neighbouring states. We will supply treated water from Rohini STP to nearby lakes; this will increase groundwater levels which can later be put to use via tube wells,” said Kejriwal.

“Total water production and availability in Delhi had stagnated at around 930 MGD for the past 25-30 years. In the past two-three years, the efforts that the Delhi government has made towards increasing this through internal sources has borne positive results. Internal sources primarily include two aspects – treatment and cleaning of wastewater and sourcing groundwater in order to extract clean water for Delhi residents. The government is producing 60MGD through internal sources only,” he added.

The CM said that the quality of treated water from Rohini STP will be further improved and it will be released into lakes to revive the groundwater level, as against the current practice of releasing the treated water into the Yamuna.

Delhi government is developing several lakes alongside the Rohini STP and also plans to carry out landscaping work in about 14.5 acres around it to turn into a tourist spot, a statement said.