At a Delhi colony that now gets ‘24×7 water supply’, here’s what residents say

Gupta is elated that she is receiving clean water 24×7. Like her, most residents The Indian Express spoke to welcomed the initiative. But there were some suspicions about whether it would continue after the elections.

“There is water supply throughout the day now no doubt: you can switch on the motor anytime to fill your tank,” says Hardeep Kaur, a 39-year-old homemaker who lives on the third floor. “But it should be permanent, it should continue after the elections.”

Most people admitted that even though the water quality is vastly better than before, they don’t drink it directly. All of them have ROs installed at home. “Kaun hi peeyega nalke ka paani yaha pe? (Who will drink tap water directly here?)” asks Karthik Sarwan, 21, a student at DTU.

Sanjeev Kumar, a 50-year-old shop owner, says: “Earlier, the water used to smell bad. It looked like sewer water. Now, at least, it looks like normal water…”

Rakesh Mohan, however, believes all the claims are lies and just election gimmicks. Showing three RO filters that had to be replaced at his house in the past month only, he asks if this would be required if the water was actually clean. “People on the ground floor get water all day automatically, but we have to switch on the motor multiple times like before,” says the 50-year-old government servant who lives on the second floor.

“Before this month, we could only switch on the motor twice a day, once in the morning, once at night. Now we can switch it on anytime during the day. But this is not what they promised. They claimed we will get water supply without using the motor,” says Komal Dewan, 48, who lives on the first floor. “But the real test will be in the summers. Let’s see if we get water then.”

The preparation for this project was started a year ago, according to Pathak. “The tender was given to the Jindal group and the Delhi Jal Board oversaw the project in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The complete water infrastructure of the area was changed. Linear pipelines were used earlier, we changed all of them… Next, all the connections that had been broken and were leaking were reconnected. Thirdly, we increased the capacity of the underground water reservoir,” Pathak said.

Opposing claims that the water is not drinkable or that motors have to be used, Pathak said: “People have a fixed mindset that motors still have to be used. But they have no need… The water is absolutely drinkable.”