Working on 50-year plan to resolve water woes in Delhi, says minister Verma

New Delhi

The government is working on short-term measures and long-term plans to ensure water availability during summer, water minister Parvesh Verma said on Thursday, detailing plans to complete the upgrade of the water distribution system, minimise pipeline leakage and improve conservation measures.

After inspecting the Wazirabad barrage of the Yamuna and visiting the water treatment plant, Verma said the storage capacity of the barrage will be doubled over the next month and a half to ensure a smooth water supply in summer.

“Until now, water management in Delhi was only in firefighter mode — wherever a problem arose, a temporary solution was found. But now, the government is working on a 50-year long-term plan, which will completely upgrade the pipeline (to prevent) leakage, and water conservation and water distribution systems. The major problem in Delhi is leakage caused by old pipelines and motors installed at homes. Until now, there was no master plan in Delhi, but now, it (works) is being made in a scientific way so that a situation like water crisis does not arise in the future.”

Barrage capacity

The Wazirabad barrage and its pond in north Delhi is the primary holding area for drinking water from the Yamuna, and pumps raw water to the Wazirabad, Okhla and Chandrawal water treatment plants, which cater to a quarter of the city’s daily water requirement.

Officials said they will undertake a dredging exercise, which involves the removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of rivers/water bodies as heavy siltation of the riverbed upstream of Wazirabad has led to a reduction in the water holding capacity. The problem was also been flagged by lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena in 2023.

Verma said that steps are also being taken to stop illegal encroachment of the Yamuna and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has requested the Territorial Army of the Indian Army to check encroachment and waste dumping of the Yamuna.

Leakages

According to the Economic Survey of Delhi (2024), Delhi has a very large component of unaccounted water or non-revenue water (NRW), at 58%. The minister said that the government is developing an IT dashboard so that real-time monitoring of water intake and discharge of every water treatment plant (WTP) and sewage treatment plant (STP) can be done.

Verma said that many water supply lines are 40-50 years old and some are more than 70 years old. “We will replace these lines with a modern and strong network. which will ensure clean and uninterrupted water supply,” he said.

Groundwater, tankers

Delhi needs more than 1,260 million gallons a day (mgd) of water but has to do with a final output of 990-1,000mgd, including 864mgd from other states and the rest from other sources.

“Wherever water table is high and water quality is good, we will be installing 249 tubewells over the next three months alone. If MLAs need more tubewells in their area, we will install more make for shortfall,” Verma said.

Besides, DJB plans to expand its tanker fleet. “During summer, the number of tankers go up. Currently, we will add 160 tankers to the DJB owned tanker fleet. Overall, we have 901 tankers which will be raised to 1,327 units,” the minister said, stressing that it was a short-term measure.

In the Delhi Assembly a day earlier, Verma said Delhi has enough water and that repairing canals will check water loss by around 30%.

Resolving issues

Verma said that DJB will ensure that there is at least one super-sucker machine in each assembly to solve sewer blockage. “Thirty-two new super-sucker machines have been procured and 30 more machines are being tendered. In next four months, all major drains and trunk sewers will be desilted. Sewage lines have not been cleared for over 10 years,” he said.

In a post on X, the minister also said 180 junior engineers are being hired and labourers in each assembly will be doubled from 10 to 20 to address problems.

“Work is being done on water storage, water purification and pipeline improvement through scientific and modern techniques. The government’s goal is to provide clean water to every house without interruption, and long-term planning is being done for this,” he said.