Yamuna flooding leads to high water turbidity, hits daily Delhi supply

Normally, the initial turbidity of raw water is around 30-40 NTU, but water received at treatment plants were having turbidity of 7,000 NTU

New Delhi

The Yamuna in spate, as seen at Mayur Vihar. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

Low-lying water treatment plants (WTPs) have not been flooded this time, unlike the Yamuna flooding of 2023, but high turbidity, debris and silt in the river are impacting water supply to various parts of the national capital, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said. Officials said the debris the swollen river is bringing from geographically higher catchment areas has affected the operations of the Wazirabad and Chandrawal WTPs, which account for almost 20% of the city’s water supply to north, central and New Delhi zones.

A senior DJB official said that the rising water levels have reached the periphery of the plants located along the Yamuna banks, but motor houses and other facilities have not been flooded.

“We have reduced the production at both plants to take care of turbidity which has reached to more than 7,000 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit),” the official said.

Normally, the initial turbidity of raw water is around 30-40 NTU. The treated water is expected to have turbidity of less than 2 NTU.

This has also led to a contaminated water supply to the New Delhi areas.

Alka Batra, a homemaker who lives on Bhagwan Das Road, said that the whole area is being supplied with muddy water and the problem has worsened over the last few days. “The water is so muddy that even filters are not working. When we keep a bucket full of water, a thick layer of mud settles down. It seems that water is not being treated at all. Today, we stopped the valves to save the existing water in the tank. This will lead to diseases,” she said.

The Walled City has also been reeling from the water crisis.

Yash Bhardwaj, a resident, said that there was no water supply to the Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk area.

Dheeraj Dubey, the president of Walled City RWA Federation, said no warning of advisory had been issued by the DJB. “There was zero water supply to our areas during the morning supply hours or now, in the evening. If this continues, we are staring at a major crisis,” Dubey said.

In North Delhi, SK Soni, a resident of Model Town, said that water supply to Priyadarshini Vihar has been continuously muddy and smelly. “The government should at least be able to supply us with potable water,” he said.

Residents of Kalkaji, Sukhdev Vihar, Hari Nagar, and Patel Nagar, among others, also reported poor water supply.

Ashok Bhasin, who heads North Delhi Residents Welfare Federation, said that their localities did not receive water supply on Thursday. “The water supply was stopped on Wednesday evening. Flooding has led to a state that DJB is unable to treat,” he said.