Water shortfall leaves city thirsty, DJB bulletin shows

On Thursday, the water production was 1002.36MGD, which is 46.36MGD more than the capacity. However, DJB received 1,530 complaints, with water and tanker-related complaints accounting for 832 and 91, respectively. Of the 832, 507 (60%) were classified as “no water” (zero water supply) complaints and rest pertained to issues of short supply, low pressure and water contamination

Complaints over water supply have started pouring in even as water treatment plants of the city are operating over their installed capacity to meet summer demand, according to reports from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which, in a first, has decided to issue daily bulletins on water supply during peak summer months of May and June to inform the public about water availability, testing quality and complaints.

Residents gather to get their fill of water to meet daily needs at Okhla Tekhand. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

An analysis of the data released for the period of May 2 to May 9 shows that on average, the DJB is registering over 1,100 complaints every day.

A Delhi Jal Board official said that the summer bulletin will be issued every day, till June 30. “We will be collecting at least 1,000 water samples for quality testing per day and results will be indicated in these bulletins. It is expected to bring more transparency during critical summer months when the demand rises,” the official said.

Gap and water stress

According to the economic survey presented by the Delhi government in March — based on the current norm of 60 gallons per capita per day (GPCD) — Delhi’s present water requirement is 1,290MGD for an estimated population of 21.5 million, leading to a demand-supply gap of over 290MGD.

With further temperature rise in the offing, water demand is expected to rise. Coupled with the annual water inflow into the Yamuna in summer, Buraru, Sangam Vihar, Inderpuri, Palam, Kirari and Jaitpur are left vulnerable.

The city primarily depends on neighbouring states to meet the majority of its drinking water demand, through the Yamuna, the carrier lined channel (CLC) Munak, and the Delhi sub-branch (DSB) canals from Haryana, and through the Upper Ganga Canal via Muradnagar from Uttar Pradesh. The water is routed through nine water treatment plants (WTPs) of the DJB.

On Thursday, the nine plants produced 867.36MGD against an installed capacity of 821MGD.

On May 2, HT reported that DJB is targeting to supply 1,000MGD water every day, as part of its summer action plan. The normal installed capacity of DJB’s water facilities is 956MGD and estimated demand of Delhi is 1,290MGD.

First week of May

On Thursday, the water production was 1002.36MGD, which is 46.36MGD more than the capacity. However, DJB received 1,530 complaints, with water and tanker-related complaints accounting for 832 and 91, respectively. Of the 832, 507 (60%) were classified as “no water” (zero water supply) complaints and rest pertained to issues of short supply, low pressure and water contamination.

Fulfilling the second component of its summer bulletin, DJB tested 1,076 samples on Thursday, of which 18 were unsatisfactory. The report says that the unsatisfactory samples were from areas of JJ Colony Wazirpur, Shakarpur, a lane in Mandwali, Om Vihar, Mahavir Enclave and Sadh Nagar.

A DJB official said that of the 1,530 complaints, 741 complaints were resolved and the rest, 789, were classified as pending. Data over the past week shows that on average, the water utility received 1,158 complaints per day since the summer bulletin exercise started on May 2.

DJB has been operating above the targeted 1,000MGD water production on most days except May 3 and May 4, when the production was 999.6MGD and 997.1MGD, respectively.

Atul Goyal, who heads united RWAs joint action, a collective body of residents’ welfare associations, said that issuing a daily water bulletin with supply levels, complaints and resolution status was a much-needed and welcome move. “This will only help in the performance audit and holding the officers responsible. A random audit of resolved complaints should be carried out and consent of complainant may be taken before closing the complaints,” he said.

Goyal said that water complaints and demand-supply gap need micro ward-level planning. “At ward level, the water demand, rainwater harvesting recharge and wastewater recycling should be mapped and balanced. The ward should be made sustainable and budgetary allocation should be linked with time bound project implementation,” he said.

Over the past decade, the network of water supply pipes in Delhi has seen a rapid expansion. The city has 1,799 unauthorised colonies, of which water supply lines have been laid in 1,638, and work is in progress in several more. Currently, DJB is using a mix of water tanker-based supply and new tubewells to supply water to these areas and around 8,700 fixed water supply points have been marked for these tankers.

Diwan Singh, a water expert and environmental activist, said that the water demand needs to be lowered at the city planning level and Delhi cannot continue to expand in unplanned manner. “City should be maximally locally sustainable. We are not even meeting 50% of our demands locally. Central and state governments are not paying attention to Delhi’s limited resources. If the city keeps expanding in an unplanned manner, from where will we source additional water? Delhi is not reusing and recycling its grey water resources,” he said.