Disruption in water supply likely in South Delhi and North Delhi

In north Delhi, an 800mm supply line from the Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant has been damaged, which will impact supply till the morning of January 8, officials said.

Parts of south, southeast and north Delhi are set to see significant disruption in water supply in the coming days stemming from two separate incidents affecting major treatment plants, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said on Monday.

Representative photo (HT)

Key areas to be hit in south Delhi include Greater Kailash, Lodhi Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Khan Market, Jor Bagh, Sarita Vihar, South Extension, while in north Delhi the belt between Rithala and Rohini assembly constituencies are likely to be affected, the officials cited above said.

In north Delhi, an 800mm supply line from the Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant has been damaged, which will impact supply till the morning of January 8, officials said.

“Technical teams have been mobilised and repair work is in progress on a war footing basis. Due to deep water lines and site constraints, the repair work is likely to take more than 24 hours,” official said.

Affected areas include multiple areas in Rohini (sectors 15 through 19), Rithala, Samaypur, Badli, Siraspur, and adjoining colonies. DJB has advised residents to contact water emergency services for tankers.

Separately, a major maintenance shutdown at the Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant will affect supply in south and southeast Delhi on January 5 and 6, the officials cited above said.

The 140-million-gallon-per-day plant supplies a wide area, and areas likely to be impacted include Kailash Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Patparganj, Okhla, Zakir Nagar, Batla House, DESU Colony, Siddharth Enclave, Bharti Nagar, Rabindra Nagar, among others. Impact will also be felt in Khan Market, Kaka Nagar, Aliganj, Jor Bagh, Lodhi Colony Flats, Nizamuddin, Ambedkar Nagar, Shahpur Jat, South Extension, Kotla Mubarakpur, and Lajpat Nagar, some NDMC and adjoining areas.

“Residents are advised to store sufficient quantity of water in advance as per their requirement during the shutdown period,” DJB said.

Loopholes flagged in testing system

Earth Warriors, an NGO fighting climate change and working for sustainability, wrote to DJB and government functionaries on Monday flagging shortcomings in the water quality testing mechanism in Delhi amid the Indore water contamination that led to several deaths.

The letter flagged that Delhi faces similar vulnerabilities which is evident by recurrent contamination and sharp rise in cholera cases.

The letter, also undersigned by activist Pankaj Kumar, claimed that only one out of 25 DJB water quality testing labs are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). “DJB claims to test lakhs of samples annually-1,700 daily- but the procurement of essential chemicals does not align with reported volume. These tests are being performed using obsolete methodologies,” the NGO letter stated.

Further, the NGO, in the letter, has urged the water utility and government to order an inquiry of current water quality monitoring mechanism, mandate the independent water quality secretariats as per Jal Jeevan Mission and issue new SOP for dealing with water contamination along with an exhaustive water quality survey of Delhi to identify vulnerable areas.