Will appoint new consultant to ensure 24×7 water in city: Bharti

“24×7 supply is being discussed. We are appointing a new consultant to extend the project across Delhi,” Bharti said, adding that the availability of water is the main problem in extending the project to other areas.

“With 24×7 supply, the main problem we are facing is the availability of water. In my constituency (Malviya Nagar), we could only extend it to two colonies – Gitanjali Enclave and Navjeevan Vihar…,” Bharti said.

Efforts have been made to augment the availability of raw water, he added. “We are producing 1000 MGD (million gallons per day) of water. We are increasing supply through borewells and through the improvement of water treatment plants (WTPs) – supply is increased when filter beds and clarifiers are improved – to ensure output of the WTPs goes up. There is also the plan of using the output of sewage treatment plants (STPs) to recharge groundwater by discharging the output in water bodies, using tubewells to extract the groundwater, processing it using RO systems and then bringing it back into the network,” he said. To ensure a round-the-clock water supply, an additional 400 MGD of water will be required, he added.

Asked if there are any specifics on the quantity of water lost to leakage in Delhi, Bharti said that the installation of flow meters, which is underway, will help identify leakage. “If you supply a certain quantity of water, and less than that reaches (consumers), there are two possibilities—it is leaking or being drawn by an unidentified tap. I will be able to answer the question once we have the flow meters and online monitoring system in place,” he said.

All flow meters are expected to be installed by the end of December this year.