In dilemma, Delhi picks poor water quality over shortage: Report
With Delhi needing around 1,250mgd of water per day and the installed capacity of Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) water plants at 950mgd, even old WTPs are being pushed beyond their capacity to meet the city’s water demands
New Delhi
Water treatment plants (WTPs) in the city supply around 40 to 47 million gallons a day (mgd) of potable water above their installed capacity, which, inadvertently, may be affecting the quality of potable water supplied to residents, according to an official government report.
With Delhi needing around 1,290mgd of water per day and the installed capacity of Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) water plants at 950mgd, even old WTPs are being pushed beyond their capacity to meet the city’s water demands, given that projects to set up two new facilities at Dwarka and Chandrawal are behind schedule.
A part of a government report submitted on July 29 by chief secretary Naresh Kumar the Delhi government underlines the urgent need to increase the capacity of water treatment plants. The report says that the installed capacity of the operational nine water treatment plants is 950mgd, but about 990mgd water is treated by these WTPs. This amounts to about 40mgd, or about 151 million litres of water per day, over and above the capacity. “Operating WTPs above their capacity has direct bearing on the health of the plant as well as quality of potable water being treated from such WTPs,” the report said.
This month, DJB has maintained a daily water supply above 1,000mgd, according to the agency’s daily reports. Over the past two to three months, the water supply has been impacted due to an array of reasons, such as a shortage of raw water, a breach in the Munak canal, high levels of industrial pollutants and ammonia, and power outages.
DJB operates nine water treatment plants at Chandrawal, Wazirabad, Haiderpur, Okhla, Nangloi, Bawana Dwarka, Sonia Vihar and Bhaigirathi. Delhi’s oldest water treatment plant is at Chandrawal, which was set up in 1935, and the latest addition is the 50mgd plant at Dwarka, set up in 2015.
A DJB official said that setting up a new treatment plant at Chandrawal and a second 50mgd plant at Dwarka are delayed and are likely to be completed by March 2025 and December 2024, respectively.
The official, requesting anonymity, said several tweaks have been made to existing plants to increase their water output, including a change of filters and recycling of water, among other measures, as Delhi faces a demand-supply gap of more than 290mgd.
“WTPs capacity was increased by about 40% (from 650mgd to 906mgd) during the period 2006 to 2015, however, there is only about 5% increase (from 906mgd to 950mgd) in the capacity of WTPs during the period 2015 to 2024,” the report said.
Given that the units at Delhi’s oldest water treatment plant at Chandrawal — a second unit was set up here in 1955 — supplies water to parts of Old Delhi, Sadar Bazar, Paharganj, parts of Karol Bagh, Malkaganj, Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Naraina and Palam Vihar, residents have complained of contaminated supply.
Ashok Bhasin, who heads the North Delhi Residents’ Federation said that they are getting contaminated water supply for at least six to seven days a month. “The pipelines are 40-50 years old and have contamination points. We have to run water motors for 15-20 minutes to get rid of the initial phase of contaminated supply. The plant has become too old and it cannot keep running like this,” he said.
Two new plants delayed
Delhi government announced the development of a second 50mgd water treatment plant at Dwarka in 2021. The second plant, abutting the existing facility, is being constructed at the cost of ₹280 crore and it is expected to supply potable water to areas of southwest and south Delhim comprising Dwarka sub-city, Daulatpur, Najafgarh, Delhi airport, Palam, Uttam Nagar, Bijwasan and Rajokri village.
DJB announced that the project would likely be completed in a year and a half, but it is not likely to be completed by March 2025, missing its May 2023 deadline by around two years. An official said 70% of the work here is complete.
At Chandrawal, there are two treatment units, of 35mgd and 55mgd capacities, but both “have outlived their design life, many units are in dilapidated state with no automated operation and control systems,” according to the report.
The DJB official cited above said the two treatment units will be phased out once the new facilities are operational and Delhi can meet its water needs.
DJB said the project of a new treatment plant, of 126mgd capacity, was awarded in August 2019. “At present, 72% of work has been completed and the overall completion is expected by December 2024,” the DJB report said.
The Delhi government did not respond to requests for comment.