Water crisis may hit Lutyens’ Delhi too

NEW DELHI: New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has urged residents to use water sparingly due to a significant reduction in the supply of potable water at two underground reservoirs in Lutyens’ Delhi. Officials of NDMC, which issued a public notice on Monday, have claimed that Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has informed the council that the water supply at these reservoirs will be reduced by 60%.
An NDMC official said, “We have been informed by DJB officials that Tilak Marg and Bengali Market underground reservoirs will receive only 40% water supply for now. Since we are not aware till when this crisis will continue, it is imperative that people use water judiciously and for essential purposes only.”
The official further added, “DJB officials said that the production of potable water from the Wazirabad plant was not running at full capacity due to non-availability of raw water, hence the water supply in command area of the two reservoirs would be made available once in a day and preferably in morning”.
The crisis will affect several major areas, including Bengali Market, Ashoka Road, Harish Chander Mathur Lane, Copernicus Marg, Purana Quila Road, Babar Road, Barakhamba, KG Marg, Windsor Place, Firoz Shah Marg and Canning Lane.
NDMC has 27 reservoirs in total. The remaining 25 reservoirs are also experiencing a 25-30% reduction in supply, the NDMC official claimed.
TOI did not get any response from DJB over the alleged water crisis threat in Lutyens' Delhi.
The council has set up a control room to provide water tankers to consumers in the affected areas, if required. The helpline numbers for the control room are 011-2336 0683 and 011-2374 3642. It has also requested the public to take measures to avoid water wastage, such as fixing leakages, refraining from using drinking water for car washing, recharging groundwater, adopting micro-irrigation techniques for gardening or plantation, recycling drinkable water for other uses, and not polluting water sources under any circumstances.
NDMC receives a daily water supply of 125 million litres with DJB contributing 120 million litres per day. To ensure efficient water distribution, a network of pipelines spanning 450 kilometres has been installed throughout the NDMC jurisdiction.
In order to address any shortfalls in the water supply, NDMC has deployed a fleet of 20 water tankers and 25 water trolleys. These vehicles are strategically positioned to provide supplementary water to areas experiencing temporary deficiencies.