Delhi’s water supply likely to be hit after canal breach near Sonepat

The canal is a major channel that carries Yamuna water from Haryana to Delhi and directly feeds two water treatment plants of Delhi Jal Board

Nearly 3 million people living in parts of New Delhi, and north and western Delhi may receive water on low pressure for the next two-three days as a portion of the Channel Lined Canal (CLC) or the Munak canal’s boundary broke near Barwasni village in Sonepat -- 20 kilometers upstream of Delhi Haryana border, senior officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

Repairs underway on the CLC near village Barwasni in Sonepat on Wednesday. (PTI)

The canal is a major channel that carries Yamuna water from Haryana to Delhi and directly feeds two water treatment plants of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) -- Bawana and Haiderpur. The canal water is also used to partially run Nangoli and Dwarka plants, the officials said.

They said that the breach was reported on Monday morning, and the authorities were yet to ascertain the reasons behind the disruption.

“Water supply to several important establishments in New Delhi such as Rashtrapati Bhavan, Supreme Court, Delhi high court, and embassies of various countries, and several residential areas in north and west Delhi will remain affected till the breach is repaired,” DJB said in an official statement. Residents of Pitampura, Shalimar Bagh, Saraswati Vihar, Paschim Vihar, Raja Garden, Jawala Heri, Ramesh Nagar are also expected to face water shortage, DJB said.

According to the Delhi economic survey, Delhi get’s 40.8% from Yamuna (river channel, CLC and DSB canals), 26.5% from Ganga and 23.1% Bhakra storage (Ravi Beas). The rest 9.6 % is obtained from ground water aquifers through tubewells and ranney wells.

According to DJB estimates, the breach has caused supply deficit of around 20% raw water supply from Haryana to Delhi.

The Munak Canal is a 102-kilometer long aqueduct that is part of Western Yamuna Canal in Haryana and Delhi. The canal carries water from the Yamuna at Munak regulator in Karnal district of Haryana, and travels south via Khubru barrage and Mandora barrage, finally terminating at Haidarpur in Delhi. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Haryana and Delhi governments in 1996 for the construction of canal. It was built by the Haryana government between 2003 and 2012.

A senior DJB official said that as soon as the information regarding damage to the canal was received, a team of senior officers was sent to the breach site located at Barwasni village between Khubru and Kakroi regulator in Sonepat. “The team of Delhi Jal Board, along with the officials of Haryana Irrigation department, is repairing the Carrier Lined Channel (CLC). It is estimated that the repair and restoration work will be completed in 48-72 hours and water supply will be restored to normal soon,” the official added.

The jal board also wrote to the Haryana irrigation department, asking them to treat the situation as an emergency in the larger public interest.

DJB vice-chairman Somnath Bharti said Delhi requested the Haryana government to take all necessary steps to avoid such situation in future. Bharti added that DJB has made alternative arrangements to limit the impact due to canal damage.

Jawahar Yadav, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Haryana chief minister, said that the CLC canal was built with a capacity of 707 cusecs, and Delhi has not paid the cost of construction to date. “Delhi is not paying maintenance amount and canal requires regular upkeep. CLC canal runs parallel to another canal called Parallel Delhi Branch and both canal meet at Kakroi. Supply to Delhi is being supplemented through the parallel channel and there will be no shortage in Delhi. The damaged section of canal will be restored within 72 hours.”