The Capital faced a water shortfall for the second day on Wednesday after the level of ammonia in the Yamuna rose considerably. Production of water at two of the city's water treatment plants at Chandrawal and Wazirabad had to be stopped as the high level of ammonia in the raw water made it difficult to carry out treatment.
Delhi Jal Board officials said the ammonia levels in the Yamuna, which were expected to come down by Wednesday morning, increased instead to 2.8 ppm by the afternoon and fell to 1.6 ppm by late evening. The permissible limit is 0.6 ppm.
“The Haryana Irrigation Department was again requested to release additional water from the Munak Barrage to dilute the concentration of the pollutants. Later in the day, it was conveyed by the Haryana Irrigation Department that additional water has been released, which is expected to reach the Wazirabad Barrage by tonight,” said a senior official of the DJB.
The official said work at the two treatment plants is expected to be resumed by Thursday. “Consumers in the command areas of Wazirabad and Chandrawal Water Treatment Plants, in Central and North Delhi, will get morning supply at reduced pressure,” the official said.
Delhi has been receiving its share of water from Haryana from the river instead of the Canal number 8, because the canal has been shut down for repair work.
“The problem of high ammonia levels have been caused by the presence of pollutants lodged very firmly in river bed,” said the official.
Residents in several areas had to rely on tankers supplied by the DJB and the private companies. “For the second day today we had no water. The DJB tanker came to our locality but it was not sufficient, so the residents had to call for private tankers also. We have also been taking caution by first filtering and then boiling the water, because of the high levels of ammonia that have been reported,” said Sarita Mehta a resident of Minto Road.
