NEW DELHI: The unprecedented flood situation in the city has disrupted the water supply as Delhi governments have shut down three water treatment plants (WTPs) after they got inundated amid the deluge while forcing one to work on 25 per cent of its capacity.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal informed on Thursday that WTPs at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla have to be closed which may accentuate water scarcity in some areas of the national capital. Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairperson (VC) Somnath Bharti told this newspaper that the situation will lead to over 33 per cent of reduction of the city’s water supply putting 21 legislative assemblies quench for the water.
Officials said that authorities have kept AIIMS, Safdarjung and Bara Hindu Rao Hospital on alert as they may get affected due the water scarcity. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has also asked residents under its jurisdiction to start rationing of water. “The three WTPs and one at Sonia Vihar together generate 335 mgd of treated water. Since the supply from three WTPs will be shut and the Sonia Vihar one would function at 25 per cent, we are looking at 21 assembly areas where water supply would be completely or partially disrupted as the impact,” Bharti said.
“However, we have made provisions to bring relief to the residents there,” he added. The DJB supplies 1,000 MGD of treated water to the city. “Water tube wells will run 24x7. Deployment of an end number of water tankers in all the affected assemblies will be done so that daily needs can be meted out. Besides, we will also partially divert supplies from other non-affected assemblies to areas where supply will remain disrupted. The situation may cause inconvenience to the people that’s why we appeal to them to use the water judiciously,” the legislator from Malviya Nagar said.
Speaking on when the normalcy is expected to return, the DJB VC said that it will take around two days for all affected WTPs to become fully functional. Both WTPs and motors will have to be dried before they start functioning. It will take more than 12 hours so we can expect the supply to go back to normal in the next two days, Bharti said. “The water level has already started stabilising in Baghpat,” he added.
