Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that the Delhi government was making all efforts to ensure 24x7 water supply to every household in the Capital and end woes revolving around installing water pumps and overhead water tanks to store potable water.
The government has decided to hire a consultant who will suggest measures to achieve this goal.
The consultant will suggest measures to improve water supply management and no wastage of water in Delhi as the government hopes to bring the water supply in the city at par with standards across the world, he said.
Enhance availability
Mr. Kejriwal said that to enhance water availability in the Capital, the government was in talks with Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other States where there was sufficient availability of water.
“We promised you that just like the AAP government has ensured 24x7 electricity in the last five years, we will also ensure 24x7 clean water in every household in Delhi in the next five years. I am glad to share that we have started this process. In a meeting that was held day before yesterday, we have decided to appoint a consultant in Delhi who will suggest measures to ensure the provision of 24x7 water to every household. The process got a bit delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic, otherwise, the process would have been completed in March or April,” he said at a digital briefing.
“We have to understand why there is a shortage of water in Delhi. If you visit any capital of other nations across the world, London, Tokyo, Paris, you will receive 24x7 supply of clean tap water. In Delhi, the water pressure is low and people have to instal pumps, and if one person installs a pump, it causes problems for their neighbours. Every household has to instal water tanks to store water. We have to bring all of this to an end,” he said.
Every day, he said, around 930 million gallons of water is processed in Delhi which means that for every citizen of Delhi, around 176 litres of water are processed. This includes water that is used for all purposes, such as industrial, swimming pools, water for farm fields.
In talks with other States
On one hand, he said, the government had to enhance the availability of water in Delhi. For this, the Delhi government was in talks with other State governments.
On the other hand, the currently available water, which is 930 MGD and 176 litres of water per person was subject to pilfering and leakage among other issues.
No accountability
“We have to rectify the management of this water and bring it under accountability. For instance, if a water treatment plant treats 100 MGD of water, there should be an accountability of every single drop of this 100 MGD water and not even a single drop should be wasted. As of now, a considerable amount of water gets wasted in Delhi, water management is not correct, and there is no accountability of the system,” he said.
“The consultant, we are hiring for water management, will tell us how to rectify the water management system in Delhi and ensure accountability and no wastage of every drop of water in the national capital. Second, we have to bring the latest state-of-the-art technology. There can be no privatisation of water at any cost,” he said.
