Water production at ‘all-time high’: DJB

NEW DELHI: After nearly a week of severe shortages, Delhi’s water production reached an “all-time high” on Sunday, said Raghav Chadha, vice-chairperson of the city’s water utility.

As against the usual 910MGD (million gallons per day), Delhi’s water production on Sunday hit 955MGD, said Chadha, who is also the Aam Aadmi Party’s legislator from Rajendra Nagar.

“Due to sufficient availability of raw water in river Yamuna as well as engineering solutions, we have managed to push our optimum levels,” Chadha tweeted.

The boost in Delhi’s water production comes at the end of a week where several parts of the Capital fell short of supply, after water levels in the Yamuna fell to a “55-year-low”, according to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which said that neighbouring Haryana withheld Delhi’s legitimate share of river water supply.

Last Sunday, the DJB also filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking directions for the Haryana government to release Delhi’s share of water.

Among the areas worst affected by the shortage were Rajendra Nagar, Old Rajendra Nagar, Greater Kailash, Prem

Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, Tughlakabad, Sangam Vihar, Ambedkar Nagar, Okhla, Raja Garden, Tagore Garden, Tilak Nagar and Subhash Nagar.

The water utility said the level of the Yamuna River at the Wazirabad barrage in Delhi dropped from 674.5 feet to 667 feet.

The situation got worse on Monday, when the level of water in Yamuna fell to its lowest since 1965, said DJB. The water utility said this drop was because Haryana withheld Delhi’s daily 120MGD share of water.

Through the week, however, as monsoon hit Delhi and its neighbouring states on July 13, Haryana released 16,000 cusecs of water on Tuesday.

“Water takes a few days to reach our water treatment plants. Till Friday, we were monitoring the status of our WTPS very closely and were ensuring that free tankers were doing the rounds at the affected areas,” said a senior DJB official

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also hailed DJB’S efforts.

“Govt is doing its best to provide water to all. Our engineers are working 24x7 against all odds,” tweeted Kejriwal on Sunday.