Ahead of the peak water demand season, Delhi is in the process of negotiating for an increase in the release of raw water as well as a water exchange project with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, government officials said.
Water minister Parvesh Verma said, “While we fix the gaps in our supply lines and reduce water losses, the Delhi government is working on a project for exchange of raw water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in exchange of treated water, which can be used for irrigation purposes in their state. Such an agreement would be beneficial for both the sides.”
Delhi requires about 1,260 million gallons per day (MGD) water in its peak demand during the summer. At present, the city receives roughly 1,000 MGD. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB), with nine operational water treatment plants (WTP), supplies around 864 MGD water, while the remaining 126 MGD is extracted with the help of Ranney wells and tubewells.
Delhi also receives a total of 256 MGD of water from UP through the Upper Ganga Canal, while the Munak Canal, which channels over 1,000 cusecs of Yamuna water from Haryana daily, is one of the main sources of raw water in Delhi.
“The Munak Canal accounts for 60% of the total water supply in Delhi,” said a DJB official.
As per a water sharing arrangement between north Indian states, Haryana is expected to provide approximately 1,133 cusecs of water to Delhi via Munak Canal and the Yamuna, the official added.
However, Verma said, there is a significant water loss in transmission from Haryana, which puts further strain on demand-supply gap in the city. “We are talking to the neighbouring government to also repair major canals through which water is received. Delhi should receive the total water it is allocated, excluding transmission losses,” he said.
Besides this, the DJB official quoted above said that the government has also written to Haryana, demanding the release of 51 cusecs of water—originally allocated for irrigation—which Delhi has not received for several years.
“The government is also requesting 140 MGD (270 cusecs) of water from Uttar Pradesh. In exchange, the government has proposed supplying treated water to Uttar Pradesh for irrigation purposes,” the DJB official further said.
New WTPs but no water supply
Apart from the expected rise in demand for water, the government is also facing another challenge: the WTPs at Dwarka and Chandrawal, with a capacity of 50 and 105 MGD, respectively, are nearly complete. However, there is no additional raw water to supply to them.
It is in this regard that the goverment is seeking the release of the irrigation quota from Haryana. “A meeting was recently held in Chandigarh between officials from the DJB and senior officials from the Haryana government. Haryana government has expressed its willingness to consider this matter,” said a second DJB official.
Operating both plants, even in phases, will require approximately 70–80 MGD of water, official said.