Capital reels under water shortage, no respite in sight

Most parts of the Capital suffered from extreme water shortage on Wednesday after the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was forced to shut down Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants. HT reports.

Most parts of the Capital suffered from extreme water shortage on Wednesday after the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) was forced to shut down Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants. Officials had said on Tuesday that ammonia levels in the plants had gone beyond treatable levels.

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Areas of north, central Delhi, Delhi Cantonment and North-West Delhi were worst-hit. The plants began functioning on Wednesday morning after the ammonia levels had reduced considerably. Though the water supply was resumed in the evening, it was still at low pressure.

"We had not collected any water as we had no information about the shutting down of plants. It was very difficult to get ready in the morning. The water supply in the evening was also for a very short period," Rekha Kaul, aresident of Maurice Nagar, said.

The situation was a little better for those living in private colonies with borewells. "We did not face problems as we have a registered borewell but the DJB should certainly inform citizens about these things in advance," said Nita Aggarwal, a resident of Model Town.

The ammonia content had increased to 1.7 PPM on Tuesday evening against the normal quantity of 0.02 PPM, forcing the agency to shut down the water plants. DJB officials attributed the increase to the discharge of industrial and domestic wastes in Yamuna at Panipat in Haryana.

On Thursday and Friday as well, the water supply will be affected in many areas like RK Puram, Vasant Vihar, Moti Bagh, Delhi Cantonment, Punjabi Bagh, Kirti Nagar and Karampura, officials said. The supply will be affected because of repairs on lines supplying water to these areas.