Delhi Jal Board readies summer action plan

Delhi Jal Board on Friday held a meeting to review the plan to assess the city’s water requirement during the lean summer months. The Summer Action Plan 2021 will be released early next month.

DJB vice-chairman Raghav Chadha said the plan would incorporate identifying vulnerable areas, catering to dry areas, water supply augmentation strategy, reducing unaccounted for water consumption and augmentation of piped water network.

“It is a well-thought plan that allows DJB to optimise available resources, inform and educate consumers and rationalise water supply. All endeavours are being made to quench the thirst of Delhi in summer 2021. We will ensure that nobody faces any water shortage in summer. A meticulous plan is under way,” added Chadha.

A senior DJB official said this was an annual exercise in which various contingency plans were prepared for increased water demand during the summer months. “All zones and maintenance divisions prepare detailed action plans. Vulnerable areas are being identified with the help of MLAs, who know which localities face the most problems. Before the onset of summer, all maintenance work of old and damaged pipelines and additional tubewells will be completed,” he added.

The water utility has around 10,000 tubewell sites in the city of which 5,500 are defunct. During its meeting on Thursday, the board decided that many of these defunct tubewells would be revived. Those that cannot be used anymore would be utilised for groundwater recharge. DJB has also begun work on improving the efficacy of its water tanker services by optimising the filling capacity at all locations.

In last year’s action plan, DJB had targeted a daily production of 925 millions gallons per day (MGD) during the summer months. Of this, 86 MGD was sourced from underground resources.

Delhi’s alarming drop in groundwater levels has been a cause for concern for long. A study by National Geophysical Research Institute had mentioned that groundwater levels were depleting at an alarming rate of 10 centimetres each year. A report by Niti Aayog stated that 21 cities in India may face severe water scarcity, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Officials said several schemes of wastewater utilisation and lake development were being utilised to assist in groundwater recharge.

Disclaimer: This story has not been edited by Water Today staff and is generated from news feeds. Source: The Times Of India