Crisis worsens, Sheila writes to PM

Bad news is in store for Delhi residents already reeling under acute water shortage. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will carry out strict rationing to ensure all areas get at least some water. Even VIP areas will feel the pinch.

Bad news is in store for Delhi residents already reeling under acute water shortage. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will carry out strict rationing to ensure all areas get at least some water. Even VIP areas will feel the pinch.

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Alarmed at the decreasing pond levels that reached 672.5 feet on Friday, the DJB has decided to carry out production at the Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants (WTP) on a rotational basis. This means vast areas will either get reduced or no supply on a particular day.

The level should ideally be maintained at 674.5 feet. Officials said production is down by at least 45 million gallons per day (MGD).

"The pond level at Wazirabad continues to be two feet below normal for the third consecutive day, affecting production at the Wazirabad and Chandrawal plants. Due to this, areas in central, north, south-west, part of cantonment and NDMC have been affected severely," said a senior DJB official.

The situation is particularly bad because the water level reached 709 feet in the western canal, one foot below normal. “Haryana has closed the gates from where DJB takes in water for the Haiderpur WTP. The flow of water has reduced. This is creating problem in production,” said the official.

CM writes to PM

An alarmed Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has written a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to intervene.

“The chief minister has been trying to contact the Haryana chief minister to resolve the issue but has not met with success. The CM has finally asked the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to find a solution as the water problem has aggravated,” said a senior Delhi government official.

Delhi needs nearly 1,100 MGD (million gallons per day) of water every day. Currently, the DJB only manages to supply nearly 835 MGD of treated water across the city. This demand is likely to touch nearly 1,400 MGD by 2017.