Delhi Jal Board sets target of 1,000 MGD water supply during summer

The city has 1,799 unauthorized colonies...

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB), under part of its summer action plan, has set a target of supplying 1,000 million gallons per day (mgd) of water across the city, officials said on Wednesday.

The water utility will also begin increasing the number of tankers supplying water to water-stressed areas, with tubewells to also augment the supply of water in Delhi, the officials said.

Last year the target was 988mgd, but the water utility exceeded its mandate, managing to supply up to 1000mgd to the city on certain days.

Delhi depends on neighbouring states to meet around 90% 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 with the water routed through nine water treatment plants (WTPs) that DJB operates  Chandrawal, Wazirabad, Haiderpur, Nangloi, Okhla, Dwarka, Bawana, Bhagirathi, and Sonia Vihar.

The remaining 10% demand is met through internal water sources primarily tubewells and ranney wells.

A DJB official aware of the summer action plan said that measures to augment the water supply have already either been put in place or are in the final stages of being enhanced. “We are optimising all resources to push WTPs by pushing them to produce 1-2mgd extra water at places like Haiderpur, Chandrawal, Dwarka, Bhagirathi, and Sonia Vihar. The number of operational tubewells has been increased from 5,498 last year to 5,726,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.

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. “During the peak summer months of May-June, 961 tankers will be deployed, of which 811 have been hired. The number of tankers was 776 in February, 779 in March and 899 in April. However, the overall number of tankers is less than the 1,047 tankers targeted in the 2023 action plan. More than 8,700 fixed water supply points have been marked for these tankers which has been increased from 6050 supply points last year,” the official quoted above said.