NEW DELHI: For the city residents who were hit by the double whammy of an impending water crisis and the unprecedented deluge which disrupted their daily lives, some respite came on Friday after the Delhi government was able to restart the halted operations of Okhla Water Treatment Plant (WTB). It is among the three WTPs which were inundated by the Yamuna flood water and was shut down till the water receded.
Somnath Bharti, Vice Chairperson of Delhi Jal Board told this newspaper that the resuming operations of Okhla WTP would reinstate 24 MGD of water supply to the city. “It will bring much relief to the residents as the projected water shortage due to shut down of WTPs was 33.5 per cent of the total,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also said that the Sonia Vihar WTP, which was functioning at 25 per cent of capacity, was able to reclaim 95 per cent of operability by Friday evening. According to Bharti, the development will reinstate 157 MGD of halted water supply to households.
Okhla WTP supplies 24 MGD of treated water while the Sonia Vihar has the capacity of 140 MGD. The unprecedented flood situation accentuated the shortage of water supply in the city as the Delhi government shut down three WTPs—at Chandrawal and Okhla—on Thursday after they got submerged in the flood water of Yamuna while it forced one at Sonia Vihar to function only 25 per cent of its capacity. Meanwhile, the DJB VC said that the Chandrawal WTP is expected to start by Saturday morning and Wazirabad WTP to start in a day or two since the water has started receding, he added.
