Delhi water crisis grows as Haryana cuts supply (Hindistan Times 15 June 2012)

NEW DELHI: Haryana has tightened the water squeeze on Delhi. On Wednesday, it curtailed supply to the capital's Wazirabad pond where the level fell from the mandated 674.5 feet to 672.8 feet. The city has been reeling under shortage of water since two weeks back when Haryana reduced its supply to the Haiderpur water treatment plant. Large parts of the city, including south, southwest, west and NDMC areas, are parched.
The capital has been demanding its fair share of 80 million gallons daily from the newly-constructed Munak canal but Haryana has refused to turn the tap any further, claiming that Delhi is withdrawing more than its allocated share. Delhi officials have taken up the matter with the prime minister and are even contemplating approaching Supreme Court.
If Delhi had only taken the task of reducing its transmission losses seriously, the crisis won't be so grave. An IIT-D report claims that these losses are a massive 40%. By DJB's own admission, the water it loses through leaks and other unaccountable means is 30% of what's available. With a total of 845 MGD available for supply, the city it seems gets just 510-590 MGD.
For now, Delhi can only blame Haryana. "Against the mandated 425 cusec, Haryana has been supplying only 385 cusec for the Haiderpur plant for the past several days. Haryana is right in saying that they are maintaining the canal level but they are actively restricting the water from entering Delhi's system. Production at the plant has dropped by18 MGD and more than a lakh people have been affected. We have approached the Upper Yamuna River Board and ministry of water resources for help," said DJB officials.
Senior DJB officials claim the situation this year is actually better than 2011 and more areas have been brought into the network. "Since 2011, 783 unauthorised colonies with a few lakh people have been covered by the water network. However, there has been no increase in supply during this period," said an official.
Independent experts say Delhi, which is already enjoying an average of 229 litres per capita per day (lpcd) against a standard of 135 lpcd, is not really short of water. "There are undoubtedly huge inequities in the supply system but if all leaks were to be plugged and DJB adopted a more efficient system of supply, a lot of the water worries would be over," said a Central Ground Water Authority official.
IIT Delhi's civil engineering department's analysis of unaccounted for water (UFW) in Delhi says it is as high as 40%. In fact, professor AK Mittal of the IIT team claims the figure is probably higher than 40%. "I would say there is no water shortage in Delhi. The gap between how much water is produced and how much reaches the consumer is huge. More than 40% of the water doesn't reach consumers. Leakage is only one reason. There are many others like tankers, illegal connections, theft, maintenance problems etc," points out Mittal. According to Delhi Jal Board estimates, however, we lose around 30% of the water to leakages and other transmission losses.
Despite severe shortage of water, recycled sewage water which can be extensively used for non-drinking purposes is not utilized. The IIT team is currently working on a research project to asses the potential of using treated sewage water in Delhi. "We don't use even 10% of the sewage we generate. At least institutions like the railways, DMRC and industries can use recycled sewage water. Even if we utilize 50% of sewage water we generate, it will help meet the demand-supply gap," adds Mittal. He add that Delhi's water charges were much lower compared to Chennai, Bangalore or Mumbai which only encourages wastage.
Every summer it's the same story. Swathes of the city go dry, Delhi fights with Haryana and UP for more supplies, but nothing really is done to see that the situation gets better the next year. For starters, we suggest that the Delhi government make rainwater harvesting compulsory for all buildings - commercial and residential. Sheila Dikshit should put her foot down and ensure that this happens. It may not fully solve Delhi's water crisis, but will certainly mitigate the problem. If cities like Chennai and Hyderabad can make rainwater harvesting compulsory, why can't Delhi?

Work on Palla project yet to start (Hindistan Times 15 June 2012)

In November 2011, the Delhi Jal Board was informed about a possible source of water for the city. A study conducted by Water and Power Consultancy Services India Limited WAPCOS had identified the floodplains at Palla as a potential source of as much as 60 million gallons a day (MGD) of water for the parched city.

The project, it was pointed out, would yield a substantial quantum of water for the city and would in turn help reduce its dependence on other States and its own depleting ground water reserves.

The Delhi Jal Board was asked to conserve the Palla floodplains and start the process of tapping water from the region that was capable of generating water valued at Rs.3,000 crore a year.

Almost six months later, the DJB is yet to start work on the project that would be a sustainable water supply for Delhi, catering to over a million people, from an extended grid of tube-wells at Palla in the Yamuna floodplains.

Water would be drawn from the floodplains using non-invasive techniques and preliminary results of the study indicated that the floodplain replenishes the water withdrawn in less than a day.

All reports of the feasibility of the project were completed by WAPCOS in January 2012. In February it was decided with the then chief executive officer Ramesh Negi that the DJB will outsource the project including operation and maintenance to WAPCOS. But sources in the DJB said the Board is now trying to modify the conditions of the MoU.

Although the project would have yielded water only by 2013, experts in the field of water management point out that in the face of a growing water crisis and disagreements on water sharing between States, projects such as this should be encouraged and given preference.

When asked about the delay in the implementation of the project, Prof. Vikram Soni, an advisor to the DJB and part of the Palla project, said: “The project is yet to start. There has been some delay in getting the project going and signing the MoU. All the feasibility studies were submitted to the DJB in February. Also, there is a new CEO at DJB, Debashree Mukherjee, who has been apprised about all the aspects of the projects and the DJB is agreed on the worthiness of the project.”

Referring to the yield of water and how it will impact the availability of water in the city, Prof. Soni said: “Even if work on the project is to begin now, we will be able to supply an extra 20-25 MGD to Delhi in about 9-10 months at the beginning of next summer when problems arise.”

“This is a pioneering and very useful project that is being carried out for the first time anywhere in the world. We have worked out the hydrology of the Yamuna floodplain to be sure that it will be ecologically impeccable. It is local, perennial and non-invasive. Furthermore, it has the virtue of having almost a negligible cost compared to any other way of sourcing a new water supply,” said Prof. Soni.

On the delay in the implementation of the project a senior DJB official said: “The project needs to be studied further. We have written to the Delhi Development Authority to allot us land for a water treatment plant and a reservoir to distribute the water. We are in the process of developing the scheme.”

Earlier, the DJB had expressed concerns about the quantum of water that would be drawn from Palla. It said the existing pipelines have a carrying capacity of just 35-40 MGD. “It was found that the existing pipelines for the Palla wells have a total capacity to pump only 35-40 MGD of water. Since the normal pumping flow of 60 MGD would require the installation of new pipelines, which would take much more time, it was recommended by me as , advisor to the DJB, to carry out this project in two phases,” said Prof. Soni.

He had advised the DJB to complete a technical evaluation of each well after which the detailed project report can be given and to refurbish the wells and install a Scada system to make the wells operationally safe and optimum and in the second phase, pipelines with a capacity of 60 MGD should be laid.

Asked if the project can fulfil the need of 20-30 MGD of supply that is being curtailed by Haryana, Prof. Soni replied in the affirmative, “Yes, it can do so easily.”

Delhi's water crisis unabated (The hindu 15 June 2012)

“Haryana arbitrarily cut down supply leading to shortage across the Capital”

The Capital continued to face a water shortage as reduction in supply persisted on Thursday. The city's water production was less by 45 MGD.

Delhi Jal Board officials said the pond level at Wazirabad was below the required 674.5 feet. As a result water production at the Wazirabad Water Treatment plant fell by 30 MGD. Production at Haiderpur water treatment plant was less by 15 MGD.

“Despite our efforts and petitions to Haryana to release more water and to the Upper Yamuna River Board to intervene, there has been no let up in the situation,” said a senior official.

The reduction in water supply affected large parts of the city including areas in South, South-West, North, North-West and Central Delhi.

The Delhi Jal Board also released a report of water testing. It said 2,913 water samples were checked between June 6-12 and 2,872 water samples were found satisfactory. “Only 41 samples, (1.40%) were found to be unsatisfactory. Remedial action was taken where samples were found unsatisfactory,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Government late on Thursday evening said that Haryana had arbitrarily and drastically curtailed raw water supply resulting in less production of water by 30 MGD at the Wazirabad water treatment plant. Haryana, it added, had also cut down water to the Haiderpur plant resulting in short production of water by 15 MGD. Further he said that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been trying to speak to her Haryana counterpart but in vain. Even the Chief Secretary has been contacting Haryana officers but to no avail. “The State Government will take up this issue at all levels as Delhi is not just a city but the national Capital,” he added.

·  Pond level at Wazirabad below required 674.5 feet: Delhi Jal Board

·  South, South-West, North, North-West and Central Delhi affected by water shortage

Sheila asks Jal Board to improve service (The Hindu 14 June 2012)

“Put in extra efforts during next two-three months so that no tangible complaint is received”

Consumers who fall within the Delhi Jal Board's service area and are in the billing net should get water for least an hour-and-a-half every day, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit instructed the water utility on Wednesday. Ms. Dikshit, who is also the Chairperson of the Board, chaired a meeting of the DJB officials, issuing terse instructions to improve the service and focus on equitable distribution of water.

The meeting comes in the wake of a surge in complaints about the quantity and the quality of water from across the city.

“The Chief Minister asked the Jal Board officials, particularly the chief engineers to concentrate on ensuring equitable supply of drinking water across Delhi. They were also instructed to ensure supply of drinking water for a period of one and half hour in all localities coming under the network of the DJB piped water supply,” said an official of the Delhi Government.

In an attempt to placate consumers who have been protesting against the reduction in supply and complaining against the quality of water, the Chief Minister has asked for daily monitoring of the samples, putting out the results in the public domain and ensuring that tankers are available for areas with no supply.

“Ms. Dikshit said supply of water is crucial, keeping in view the extreme summer season. No one should be deprived of drinking water. She stressed the need for immediate complaint redress and directed that all complaint offices must be manned by senior-most officers round the clock,” the official said.

Taking note of the complaints about the non-availability of tankers and the problems faced by consumers who have to purchase more expensive water from private tankers in the absence of water from the DJB, Ms. Dikshit has asked the Jal Board officials to speed up on the installation of GPS facility on tankers.

She also asked the officials to supervise tanker system to ensure that tankers are available on specified routes and on specific time. “She said there should be zero tolerance on diversion of tankers. Any violation of scheduled timeframe of deployment of tankers should not be tolerated and the employees responsible for the digressions should be straightway dismissed. Ms. Dikshit said consumers who have not been getting water supply have every right to call for the tanker and the DJB is morally bound to ensure supply through tankers immediately,” the official said.

The Chief Minister, who has been at the receiving end of consumer's indignation over poor water supply and quality, has also asked the DJB officials to put in “extra efforts during next two-three months” so that “no tangible complaint” is received.

The Jal Board has been asked to come out with the test results of water quality everyday. “She felt it is the need of the hour to disseminate figures related to samples tested in the labs to establish the quality of drinking water and that it is fit for drinking,” the official said. The DJB must work to set up a benchmark to prove its competence of providing drinking water to all citizens in the city, the Chief Minister said.

The Jal Board has been asked to ensure the complete operation of water treatment plants and recycling plants for the maximum generation of water. Officials have been asked to crack the whip against illegal tapping and to disconnect illegal connections. “The CM asked the officials to take action against illegal tapping and take the help of police wherever necessary. They have been asked to keep the local MLAs and Councillors informed. Chief engineers have also been asked to inspect underground reservoirs and tanker filling stations on a daily basis,” the official said.

The Chief Minister has also instructed to streamline the revenue management system and sort out discrepancies in bills being issued.

The power distribution companies have been asked to provide power through alternative sources to all WTPs if needed.

Residents cry for water, Delhi Jal Board in no hurry to respond (Times of India 13 June 2012)

NEW DELHI: Ruma Roy has spent Rs 6,000 on purchasing water from private tankers in the past one month and a half. Her house in south Delhi's Gulmohar Park has been getting Delhi Jal Board supply only once a week, if she is "lucky". DJB has neither responded to calls for tankers nor explained why the problem persists.
Roy is among thousands of Delhiites who have been facing water problems for an extended period of time for no ostensible reason. One day out of the blue the supply was disrupted and has not been restored since then. In Vasant Vihar's block F-8, there has been no water since the past two months. Repeated complaints to DJB have yielded a site visit or two by officials but no remedy has been found.
"If there is a problem at our end, we are willing to have it sorted out. However, whenever DJB staff does come, they say nothing except that the problem will be looked into. We have spent more than two months like this. Someone said we are at the tail-end of the supply line but some houses are getting water while others are not. There is obviously some other issue," said a resident of F-8 block.
In Ashok Vihar, residents have been complaining of contaminated water supply since November 2011 but there has been no improvement in their water so far. PL Sharma, a resident of B-block says that people waste a huge amount of water each day by letting the contaminated water flow away.
"On one hand there is a shortage of water. On the other, while we are getting a proper supply at least once a day, we cannot use the water since it is so filthy. It's also become routine for the supply to not come at all sometimes. We have complained to DJB but nothing has been done," he says.
The Jal Board has faced some problems in the past two weeks over its water supply but officials say that distribution is actually much better at present than it has ever been. Except, for various odd reasons, several of which can be attributed to an old system of pipes that sprout leaks and have been victim to illegal tapping, many parts of the city are facing a huge crisis.
"DJB probably needs to go back to its overhead tank system. The present system of underground reservoirs requires too much power and the pressure of water being supplied is just not sufficient in areas that are even slightly away. In our colony, supply comes once between 3.30am and 6.30am. Every third day the supply is disrupted," said Rajiv Kakria, a resident of GK-I.
These are residents of authorized colonies. In several unauthorized areas and slums, water is supplied either exclusively through tankers or through borewells. In water samples picked up from 20 slums in southwest and west Delhi, high levels of e-coli contamination have been detected in most groundwater samples. Nahida, a middle-aged woman living in west Delhi's Darbhanga slum, says, "This is the water that was supplied in the slum two days back through the DJB pipeline. We had to let the water sit for a while so that the sediments settled down and then boil the water before drinking it. We have a tubewell too but the water is so dirty that we use it only for washing," she says.