Delhi Jal Board plans higher supply to meet summer water needs

The economic survey presented by the Delhi government in March had estimated that the demand of water in the city is around 1260mgd

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has set a target of supplying the Capital with 990 million gallons per day (mgd) by the peak summer month of June. Officials aware of the matter said on Monday that the water utility will achieve this by optimising its available resources and adding more tubewells to augment the supply of water in vulnerable areas.

Most of north, south and central Delhi gets its water from the Wazirabad barrage on the Yamuna river. (ANI)

These, and other strategies are part of DJB’s summer action plan 2023, that the water utility is set to make public soon. HT has seen a copy of the plan.

Delhi’s current water supply is 940-990mgd, depending on the weather and other factors.The economic survey presented by the Delhi government in March had estimated that the demand of water in the city is around 1260mgd.

Over the last few months, DJB has held a series of meetings with the city’s legislators to identify water vulnerable areas and is installing 406 new tubewells, increasing the operational tubewell count to 5500 units.

A senior DJB official associated with the project said the plan will put emphasis on the utilisation of sub-surface water resources.

“Of the 990mgd planned water supply, 862mgd will be supplied by Delhi’s nine water treatment plants, and the remaining 128mgd will be sourced from tubewells and ranney wells to achieve the targeted peak production of water during the summers,” the official said.

Delhi has 1,799 unauthorised colonies, of which water supply lines have been laid in 1,630 colonies, the work is in progress in 15 more, and lines have been laid in 41 areas but the supply will only be activated after the summer months, depending on the availability of raw water.

Currently, DJB is using a mix of water tanker-based supply and new tubewells to supply water to these areas.