DJB bottling plant starts operations in Sadiq Nagar, has capacity of 9,000 bottles per day

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Friday operationalised a new water bottling plant with a capacity to fill 9,000 bottles daily in south Delhi’s Sadiq Nagar

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Friday operationalised a new water bottling plant with a capacity to fill 9,000 bottles daily in south Delhi’s Sadiq Nagar.

New Delhi, Sep 04 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj addresses a press conference against the MCD issue at Rouse Avenue, in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI Photo) (Mehavish Siddiqui)

DJB vice-chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj, who inaugurated the bottling plant for 20 litre water cans, said the facility is automatic and requires no manual intervention. “Once packed, the water bottles will be made accessible to the general public of Delhi through Jal Suvidha Kendras. Moreover, individuals and organisations can also place bulk orders for the water bottles for direct supply,” he said.

A government statement said the price of the bottles will be decided by the DJB “so that the general public has unhindered access to better water at a better price compared with the market”.

“At present, people purchase drinking water bottles from local vendors where the quality of the water is not known to them. This DJB bottling plant will supply pure water sourced from the Ganga. The price of the water bottle will also be decided by the Delhi Jal Board so that the general public has unhindered access to better water at a better price compared with the market,” Bhardwaj said, adding that the plant will operate in 3 shifts – each packing 3,000 bottles for a total of 9,000 bottles per day.

Bharadwaj, the Aam Aadmi Party legislator from the Greater Kailash constituency, also stated that any waste water produced through different processes at the plant will not be drained off and will be recycled.

A DJB official said the plant will be supplied with 3.5 lakh litres of water from the Ganga every day. “Activated carbon and microfiltration technologies have been employed in the plant to make the water potable. The quality of the potable water will be regularly monitored by the in-built laboratory,” the official said.

​The city already faces a demand-supply gap of over 380 million gallons of water every day. Delhi government’s economic survey 2021-22 stated that the total requirement of water was around 1380 MGD in 2021 which is based on the norm of 60 Gallon Per Capita per Day (GPCD) and the government has targeted a water supply of 998 MGD under its summer action plan 2022. The higher demand supply gap translates into more reliance on ground water, bottled can water and water tankers to meet the domestic drinking demands. Data from the socio-economic survey of Delhi 2020 shows that around 7.7% houses in Delhi use bottled can water while another 5.04% get water access through water tankers.

Water from Yamuna and the two canals from Haryana constitutes almost 40% of the raw water availability in the city. A quarter (25%) water comes from UP through upper Ganga canal, 22% comes from Bhakra Nangal while rest of the 13% is sourced from Subsurface sources such as Ranney wells and tubewells.