The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Tuesday said that it will start collecting 1,400 water samples for testing from across the city, after a study by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) last week said that water in Delhi was the most unsafe among 21 State capitals. The result was based on 11 water samples taken from across the city.
On Tuesday, the DJB also opened its water treatment plant in Sonia Vihar to the media and explained the different processes involved in treating water. The officials and said that the DJB’s water is 100% safe.
The DJB will deploy 32 teams to take five samples from each ward and a third party, which will be part of the process, will also test the water at their own facility, said the officials.
“The Centre has nominated two people for a joint inspection and we will also appoint two officials... after that we will hold a joint meeting to work on the details of how to conduct the sampling process,” said Dinesh Mohaniya, vice-chairman of the DJB.
Mr. Mohaniya added that two Central government officials would not be enough to conduct a joint sampling.
Explaining the process, DJB’s chief water analyst Sanjay Sharma said, “The treated water is tested 24 times in a day, once every hour, and it has to pass all parameters, or else we do not supply it.”
Mr. Sharma said if they feel that the quality of the treated water is not up to BIS standards, then the water is taken to a recycle chamber, and if it is treatable, then it is taken through the whole treatment process again.
“If there is any problem with the raw water, then we stop the production immediately. If at any point during the treatment we feel that we cannot treat it up to the desired standards, then we flow it out into the Yamuna,” he added.
Mr. Mohaniya said that the treatment is done through a four-stage process. “We do not know from where the Centre took the water for the study. As per the WHO, one sample should be taken for every 10,000 of population, but the Centre took only 11 samples for a city as big as Delhi.”
