STPs running below capacity

Ghitorni treatment plant not being used

Some ways to go: The survey noted that 81.3% of the city’s households now have access to piped water supply. file photo

The sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Delhi are operating at only 74% of their capacity, noted the Economic Survey released by the Delhi government on Tuesday.

Some of the reasons for the low output, as pointed out by the survey, are low flow of sewage into the STPs, trunk and peripheral sewer lines still to be connected to the STPs, the non-completion of the rehabilitation of silted and settled truck sewer lines.

“The STPs are not functioning at their optimum level. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has sewage treatment capacity of 607 million gallons daily (MGD),” the survey read.

Unbalanced use

The percentage output of the Delhi Gate plant was the maximum with 119% utilisation, followed by Sen Nursing Home plant with 110% and Chilla plant with 109% output. The lowest turnout was for the Ghitorni plant with 0%.

The survey also showed that the number of households with authorised water connections has gone up from 17.85 lakh in 2009-10 to 23.21 lakh in 2015-16.

The survey noted that 81.3% of the city’s households now have access to piped water supply, out of which 75.2% is from treated water sources.

The DJB said that their initiative to provide full subsidy and full exemption of water bills from 2015 to all domestic connections consuming water up to 20,000 litres per month, and having functional water meters, has resulted in this spike.

“Our aim is to provide water connections across the city. Clean water is a right of every Delhiite. Soon, we will be able to get water connections for all, including those in unauthorised colonies,” said DJB chairperson Kapil Mishra.

“Water production during summer is being maintained at 895 million litres a day. The existing water supply network comprised 14,000km of pipelines and more than 107 underground reservoirs,” the survey read.

Electricity supply

Meanwhile, for the power sector, the survey noted that the electricity supply in Delhi increased from 23,537 million units in 2005-06 to 33,615 million units in 2015-16. The number of electricity consumers in Delhi has gone up by 85.43% during the last ten years.

This has also been the primary reason behind the power consumption recording an annual growth of around 3.39%.

The peak demand also increased from 3,626 MW in 2005-06 to 5,846 MW in 2015-16.