New Delhi: In further worsening of the prevailing water crisis in the national capital, the water level of Wazirabad pond has dropped to its lowest this year at 668.3 feet, against the normal of 674.5 feet, fueling fears of a graver supply shortfall. The supply crisis will likely affect north, north-west, west and parts of south Delhi and Delhi Cantt, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said on Saturday.
“Since the Yamuna river is almost dry, we are diverting water from the Carrier Lined Canal (CLC) and the Delhi Sub Branch (DSB) towards Wazirabad. As a result, the water production at Haiderpur Phase I and Phase II and Bawana water treatment plants have been hit,” an official said as quoted by news agency PTI.
Notably, Haryana supplies 610 million gallons of water to Delhi through two canals per day -- CLC (368 MGD) and DSB (177) -- and the Yamuna (65 MGD).
Apart from this, the national capital receives 253 MGD from Uttar Pradesh through the Upper Ganga Canal and 90 MGD from ranney wells and tube wells installed across the city.
Sounding an alert to the Delhi residents, DJB said, “The public is requested to make judicious use of water. They may also contact the Central Control Room at telephone nos. 1916: 23527679 23634469 for water-related problems i.e demand of tankers etc. Inconvenience to the public is regretted.”
It is to be noted that Delhi requires around 1,200 MGD of water, while the DJB supplies 950 MGD. However, due to the depleted water level in the Wazirabad pond, the water supply has been further reduced by around 65 MGD.
The DJB on Tuesday wrote to the Haryana Irrigation Department, asking it to urgently release 150 cusecs of additional water in the "almost dry" Yamuna. This is the fourth time in less than three weeks that it wrote to the Haryana Irrigation Department.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Friday, asked the Delhi government not to indulge in "petty politics" over the water issue, saying if it wants more water, it should ask Punjab to release his state's "legitimate share".