Supply of water across the city is likely to improve in time for summer 2019, with Delhi Chief Minister and Delhi Jal Board chairperson Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday setting March as the deadline for four water augmentation projects.
On Wednesday, Mr. Kejriwal held a meeting at his residence to discuss the water augmentation projects of the DJB, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Six locations
Among the projects discussed in the meeting was extraction of water from six locations on the Yamuna floodplains between Wazirabad and Okhla.
The statement said the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) had identified the six locations that had the potential to provide 383 million litres per day (MLD) of water, but apart from two locations, the others had remained untapped.
Mr. Kejriwal said the remaining potential should be tapped before the summer.
The other augmentation project involved freshwater pockets identified in Dwarka. The DJB had engaged WAPCOS as a consultant to identify freshwater pockets and though the final report was pending, the consultant had given a preliminary estimate of pockets that can give 22.5 MLD of water.
Mr. Kejriwal said this source of water should be developed by March-end, the statement added.
After Mr. Kejriwal approved a pilot project for a ammonia treatment plant in east Delhi’s Shakarpur last week, he said the technique should be applied to non-functional ranney wells and borewells. Currently, seven ranney wells and 125 borewells are out of use due to the high level of ammonia in the water.
“Now the problem of ammonia in water can be handled with the new technique. The ammonia treatment plants should be put up as soon as possible to restart these non-functional units. This should be completed by March end so that there is no dearth of water in the summers,” he said.
Once functional, these wells would add 63 MLD of drinking water. Apart from this, Mr. Kejriwal also directed officials to set up new borewells in north and east Delhi, where the water table is high.
“Additional bores can also be done in north and east Delhi areas where water table is high and the problem of ammonia can be done away with putting up the treatment plants. These additional bores will not only make these areas self-sufficient for water, but will also create additional water which can be then supplied to other water scant areas of Delhi,” said the Chief Minister.
With these additional borewells, some water from the Sonia Vihar treatment plant in east Delhi can then be diverted to south Delhi, which faces shortage.
Apart from officials of the DJB, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain, DJB vice-chairperson Dinesh Mohaniya, MLAs from east and north Delhi and Chief Secretary Vijay Dev also attended the meeting.
