The water level in the Yamuna river fell to around 668.5 feet on Tuesday, six feet lower than the normal level of 674.5 feet, at the Wazirabad Barrage, leaving about 1-1.5 feet of water in the pond area, where the Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants draw raw water.
Officials familiar with the matter said that the water level has recorded a steady decline over the past few days, approaching the historic low of 667 feet, which was recorded on July 16, 2021.
Local areas in New Delhi also started feeling the pinch on Tuesday, with the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) cutting supplies by about 14-15%, according to New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) officials. They said DJB supplied them with 125 million liters per day (mld) of water per day, against their demand of 148mld.
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A DJB official, requesting anonymity, said: “The historic low was recorded at 667 feet, but for all practical purposes, there is little water in the reservoir. Below 268 feet, we have had to dig canals in the river bed to push water from deeper areas towards the plant. This raw water is also mixed with silt. More than 100 mg of water is being diverted daily from Hyderpur to keep the Wazirabad and Chandrawal plants running, but this will affect the water pressure in the areas under the plants.” Other.”
“Supplies have been further reduced by 14-15% and residents are advised to store enough water in case the situation worsens,” an official at the National Disaster Management Center said.
Meanwhile, a Delhi government official, requesting anonymity, said Delhi is in talks with Haryana to procure more water and relief is likely to come in the coming days.
Unlike previous years, the Delhi government and DJB did not issue any warning, or even acknowledge the drop in water levels. The practice of issuing daily summer bulletins also stopped last year.
On Tuesday, DJB officials said they were digging deeper water channels downstream, but the base level in Wazirabad was uneven due to heavy siltation. However, this has led to severe water shortage in the northern, northwestern and central districts of Delhi.
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Model Town, Shadipur, Tilak Nagar, Paryavaran block, parts of Narela, Pul Prahladpur, Patel Nagar, Dakshinpuri and Rajinder Nagar areas reported acute shortages, while residents of Deoli and Dakshinpuri staged a protest outside the DJB office in Greater Kailash on the day.
DJB typically supplies 1,000 million gallons per day of water through nine water treatment plants.
A second DJB official said the water treatment plant in Wazirabad, which supplies 110 mgd, is operating at 65% capacity; The Chandrawal plant, which supplies 90 mg daily, is running at 80-85% capacity and all other plants will face 10% supply disruption due to water diversion from Hyderpur. “We cannot create a situation where the catchment area of Wazirabad and Chanderwal does not get any water supply,” the official said.
Savitri Devi, 55, a resident of Block 14 in Kalyanpuri, said water supply often lasts for only 15 minutes. “The water supply is highly erratic. Sometimes, there is no supply at all in the evening. We start the engine, but within 15 minutes, the supply stops. We try to store water in large pots, but there is only so much water we can store this way. For drinking water, we completely depend on tanker water coming from nearby sources, and these days, we use this water to wash utensils sometimes,” said Devi, who lives in a family of 10.
