NEW DELHI, July 2: Water supply in west, north-west and several parts of south Delhi was severely affected, with several areas going without a drop of water, in the last two days. Water could not be supplied to the treatment plant in Haiderpur due to a breach in the western Yamuna canal on the afternoon of June 30 which disrupted water supply in these areas.According to Baleshwar Rai, Chief Executive Officer, Delhi Jal Board, ``We found that the retaining wall on the left bank of the diversion channel, passing over the supplementary drain, had collapsed. Flow of water in the diversion channel was immediately stopped and as a consequence water supply in the entire command area of Haiderpur was affected yesterday and today.''He, however, assured that normal water supply would be restored by tomorrow. ``The Haiderpur plant has a capacity of 200 MGD. So far we have managed to restore 80 MGD. Since work is being carried out at a very fast pace and we hope to restore it to it's full capacity by tomorrow,'' he said.The areas of Rohini, Pitampura, Shalimar Bagh, Model Town, Rohtak Road, Tilak Nagar, Subhash Nagar, Janakpuri, Delhi Cantt, Deer Park, Vasant Vihar, Uttam Nagar, Najafgarh, Vikaspuri, Hastasal, Sagarpur and Kanjhawala have been severely affected.Rai said that 20 MGD water was diverted for West Delhi, particularly Punjabi Bagh and Khyala underground reservoir from the Wazirabad Plant. Some water was also diverted Bhagirathi Plant to south Delhi areas. Moreover, 500 water tankers have been deployed in the affected areas. However, Rai admitted that it was very cumbersome to fill the tankers as there was no water in the reservoirs also. So the tankers had to go a long distance to be filled up and then supply water to the affected areas.Blaming the monsoons for the breach, Rai said that as soon as the repair work was over, they would consider making some alternate arrangements to avoid any recurrences. ``The diversion channel was made in 1993. It was a temporary means of conveying water and an aquaduct was supposed to come up. However, work was delayed and we have been using that channel for five years. I consider the whole channel as very fragile and there could be further damage due to rains,'' Rai admitted.
