Delhis unending struggle for water

The citys water utility,the Delhi Jal Board DJB,is in the process of readying its Master Plan for Water supply and sewerage network. Officials believe that for 78 per cent households of Delhi to have water source within their house is an achievement for DJB,while it is a challenge to achieve the outcome for at least 35 lakh households that still depend on water tankers and community taps.

Delhi battles some mammoth inter-state water sharing disputes that ensure there will be no additional source of water in the several years to come,and the only way forward is to rationalise the available supply. DJBs water losses amount to over 50 per cent,and not a single drop of the annual four billion cubic metres BCM of monsoon water is saved for future water security of the city.

WATER

Finding it unrealistic,the Ministry of Urban Development is already reviewing the Master Plan Delhi MPD -2021 Densification of Delhi,as proposed under the Delhi Development Authoritys DDA Master Plan were based on the fact that Delhi would get additional raw water from the Renuka dam project in Himachal Pradesh and the Kishau projects being built jointly by Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,which are stuck due to technical reasons.

The DDA has to put a restraint on further densification,so that a Dwarka story is not repeated, a senior DJB official said.

The densely populated Dwarka township in Southwest Delhi requires 12 million gallons of water per day MGD,but the DJB is equipped to provide only three MGD. Remaining requirement is met by over exploitation of ground water.

Now,attempting to plug gaps in MPD-21,the DJBs WMP-21 Water Master Plan takes into consideration two scenarios if Delhi gets additional raw water in future,or it doesnt.

Currently,MPD-21 marks Delhis availability of water at 60 gallons per day GPCD. A non- Renuka Dam would reduce the availability to 30-38 GCPD, a senior official said.

As per the draft WMP-21,which has been prepared by the Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA,Delhi would be divided into approximately 1,100 District Metering Areas DMA.

Each DMA would have 2,000-5,000 connections each,with an inlet and outlet accounting system to counter check with the amount of water given and the billed amount. The DJBs mandate,as per the draft WMP,is to reduce Non-Revenue Water.

For now,the DJB also has the mammoth task of setting up a water supply network in at least 1,005 unauthorised colonies that were given provisional regularisation certificates in 2008. DJB officials said the water lines have been laid in 783 unauthorised colonies,while work in 45 unauthorised colonies is underway.

The water utility looks forward to rationalise water supply,by reducing water supply to areas that are over supplied and increase the supply of water in others.

SEWERAGE

Only 55 per cent of Delhis population had access to a centralised sewerage system,and the need to augment the existing sewerage system to cover the entire population has got the DJB got a budgetary allocation of Rs 400 crore for the sector this year.

The DJB has to lay sewer network in unauthorised colonies,which have been given provisional regularisation certificates PRCs by the government in 2008,and were cleared for regularisation by agencies concerned. Officials said the laying of sewer is expected to be undertaken in around 1,000 colonies out of 1,239 colonies.

The Delhi government had issued the PRCs to over 1,239 unauthorised colonies,which have been home to around 40 lakh people,ahead of the Assembly polls in 2008.

Also,Delhis sewage treatment capacity has been increased by over 175 MGD this year with the upgrade four sewage treatment plants STPs.

The 30 MGD Okhla Sewage Treatment Plant has already been commissioned. In the next few months we will have three more STPs added to the network. Together these four STPs will mean an additional 100 MGD of sewage treating capacity and that will go a long way in cleaning the Yamuna, a senior official said.

The new STPs that are expected to become functional are the 72 MGD Keshopur STP,25-MGD Yamuna Vihar STP and 45-MGD Kondli STP.

The Okhla STP,with a treatment capacity of 30 MGD,is the biggest treatment facility in the city and empties treated effluent into the Agra Canal; the Kondli STP has a treatment capacity of 45 MGD and discharges effluent into the Shahdara drain.

The treated sewerage from these plants,officials say,would be used for non-potable purposes such as watering plants and running power plants. Non-potable water is already being provided to the Central Public Works Department for watering the lawns at India Gate and Lodhi Gardens. At least 80 MGD treated of sewerage water is being provided to the Pragati Power Plant.

The Delhi Government also signed an agreement with Sweden recently to convert biogas from Keshopur sewage treatment plants to CNG,which will in turn be used to run Delhi Transport Corporation buses.