Plumbers are out, DJB plans water, sewerage lines straight to homes

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) plans to directly provide household connection for sewerage and water to Delhiites through their engineers.

At present, residents take permission from the DJB and use the services of a local plumber to take the lines to their homes.

“DJB provides pipelines in colonies but individuals take the connections themselves. This policy decision will directly connect people with the water and sewage network but for this the DJB Act needs to be changed. The board has already cleared the proposal and now it will go for the Assembly’s approval,” a government official said.

This will decrease cases of water contamination and add more people to the sewerage network, DJB chairman and Delhi water minister Rajendra Gautam told Hindustan Times.

“There are 22 lakh water connections in the city. On paper there are 50-60% sewage network connections but in reality there are around 20%. There are 35 STPs operating at 21 locations at the moment. But there are very few people who have taken sewer connections. This defeats the purpose,” Gautam said.

He said even though east Delhi is 100% sewered, most people haven’t taken connections.

“So the waste, which is supposed to go in the sewerage network is now going through storm water drains and ending up in the Yamuna. Hundreds of crores have been spent on cleaning the river but things won’t improve unless all of city is part of the sewage network,” the minister said.

DJB officials taking over water connections will also reduce leakages and contamination. The current percentage of water loss is 45-50% and it plans to bring it down to 10-15%, an official said.

To find out where the leakage loss is happening and where the leakages are, there are plans to start metering at multiple points. From the moment it comes out of treatment plants to underground reservoirs and then when it is sent to individual homes, everything will be monitored.