Dwarka in south Delhi goes 4 days without water supply

Water scarcity in Dwarka, Delhi due to breach at carrier-lined canal branch. Residents face low to zero water supply, high bottled water prices, and contamination. Supply to normalize by Monday.

Four days after a sudden breach at the carrier-lined canal (CLC) branch of the Munak canal, several areas in the Dwarka region, southwest Delhi, continued to remain parched on Sunday. Despite operations resuming at the Dwarka water treatment plant, which has a production capacity of 50 million gallons per day (mgd), the areas recorded low to zero water supply, following which residents complained of spike in bottled water prices, lack of availability of tankers, water contamination and low water supply.

Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said that the supply will become normal by Monday morning. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said that the underground reservoirs and pipeline system was completely out of water and the supply in the remaining areas will become normal by Monday morning.

“When the entire supply is dry, it takes time for the water supply to become normal in the whole region. The areas near the water treatment plant have started receiving normal supply and the remaining areas will progressively get better. It might take time for water to reach the tail-end areas,” said an official requesting anonymity.

Complaints poured in from several parts of Dwarka, including Sector 1, Mahavir Enclave, Dwarka Sector 8, Sector 16, Sector 10, Madhu Vihar, Palam and Raj Nagar.

The Delhi water bulletin on Sunday showed that the water supply to the city over the preceding 24-hour cycle reached the second lowest level this year, with a shortfall of 110 mgd. Against the normal water supply level of 1,000 mgd, the water utility managed to provide only 890 mgd water with short production in Haiderpur and Dwarka water treatment plants. Supply level was 898 mgd on July 12 and 907 mgd on the preceding two days.

The season’s lowest supply level was recorded at 888 mgd on June 21, when the city was facing acute raw water shortage during a spell of intense heatwave. The Dwarka water treatment plant treated no water against the 50 mgd capacity, and the Haiderpur plant supplied 185 mgd water against the capacity of 241 mgd, the report said. The water utility received 1,944 complaints related to water supply and sewage, out of which 684 complaints were related to water supply and 157 regarding water tankers, official said.

Water minister Atishi on Saturday posted on X, “repair of the embankment of Munak canal was completed last night. Haryana has released water from Kakroi head at 10:30 am. This water will reach Delhi by 1:30-2:00 pm. Dwarka water treatment plant will start functioning from 4 pm. Water supply will resume in Dwarka from tonight.”

Deepak Kumar, a resident of Arjun Park in Najafgarh, said that the water supply did not resume even till 4pm on Sunday. “There has been no supply over the last three days. We contacted the DJB helpline and we were assured that the supply will resume from today Sunday, but even now there has been no water supply to our area,” he added.

Jatin Singh, a resident of West Sagarpur, said that over the last four days they have only got assurances, but no water. “No one is taking our problems seriously. How can such a large area be deprived of water for four days. There has been no solution to our problems,” he added.

Sandeep Jha from Mahavir Enclave said that the area was completely parched. “Private operators are selling even the canned drinking water at exorbitant prices. The water tankers are not available and officials are not answering our phones,” he added.

Ranbir Singh Solanki, the president of Madhu Vihar colonies welfare association that covers over two dozen unauthorised colonies in southwest Delhi, said that the residents faced immense troubles over the last four days. “Some areas got water for a few minutes and we are being told that the rest will get water from Monday morning,” he added. Residents in areas like Sector 8 complained of contaminated water.