The tragedy of Delhi’s water loss (The Hindu- 07 Jan. 2010)

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s inability to curb water leakage and theft is largely to be blamed for the absence of piped water supply to large parts of the Capital as the total distribution losses are to the order of 40 per cent.

A study conducted by the Delhi Committee of the ASSOCHAM reveals that the distribution losses are primarily due to leakages in a network of nearly 9,000-km-long water supply lines and because of theft committed through unauthorised connections.

Pointing out that this figure was quite high even in comparison to the 10 per cent to 20 per cent losses seen in the developing countries, the study notes that the percentage of unaccounted-for water calculated from the difference between water produced and pumped was also very high at 35 per cent to 40 per cent.

The current gap between supply and demand of water being nearly 1,300 million litres of water, ASSOCHAM secretary-general G.S. Rawat said that with Delhi’s population likely to exceed 19 million by 2011 from the current level of about close to 16 million, the availability of both power and water would have to be raised manifold to meet the rise in demand.
At present, as against a demand of 4,300 million litres per day, Delhi supplies only about 3,000 million litres of water.

The study found that conservative pricing of resource and associated services along with non-metering of 23 per cent of the water connections has also discouraged prudent use of water.
It notes with concern that Delhi has an average of only four hours of water supply a day. And while the Delhi Jal Board supplies over 3,000 million litres per day, only about 1,700 million litres actually reaches the consumers due to infrastructural constraints and problems.
With as much as 40 per cent of the water being lost due to leaking pipes, many households go without water. As per the study, 27 per cent of homes in Delhi receive tap water for less than three hours a day.

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