No water shortage in capital, claims minister

Many parts of the city witnessed water shortage on Friday, but city’s water minister Kapil Mishra claimed that the water supply is normal in the national capital. He said all water production plants are working at their full capacity and the Delhi Jal Board is producing a record 900 million gallons per day (MGD) of water.

The minister made the claim in a reply to Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and accused the BJP leader of politicising the issue and creating panic among city residents.

“Today when the plants are producing water at full capacity and producing a record 900 MGD of water, the BJP is conspiring to stop the water supply to Delhi by the states ruled by it. This is not just playing dirty politics, but also amounts to a criminal act,” Mr Mishra wrote in his letter.

However, some parts of the city did face water shortage on Friday morning as untreated water supply to Delhi from Haryana fell on Thursday. The AAP government managed to avert a severe water crisis for now with fresh supply from the Tehri lake in Uttarakhand.

The Delhi Jal Board’s Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants functioned at 50 per cent of their capacity on Thursday because of inadequate raw water supply.

Both the Munak Canal and the regular course of the Yamuna had less water, which forced the DJB to curtail production at the two plants. On Friday, Delhi got 50 million gallons less water than the usual 900 MGD. The Delhi Jal Board had on Thursday said in a statement that the “acute drop” in the level of the Wazirabad pond and the “reduced supply” in the carrier-lined channel would hit supply in the whole city, except East Delhi. “The affected areas would include Lutyens’ Delhi, north Delhi, northwest Delhi, central Delhi, and parts of south and west Delhi,” it had said.

The residents too faced reduced water supply and low pressure in the water supply. The water woes coupled with rising temperature in the city have added to the problems of the residents. “The supply has been reduced significantly over the last few days. Water is being supplied on a significantly reduced pressure too,” complained Simran Kaushik, a resident of Malviya Nagar. According to DJB officials, Haryana was releasing 200 cusecs of water through the Yamuna for the city, but most of it was evaporating before reaching Delhi.

According to a Supreme Court order, Haryana is supposed to maintain the level of the Wazirabad pond, which is fed by the river.

The DJB will write to the Haryana government to raise the issue soon, said a senior official.