Capacity of water treatment plants in Delhi increased marginally in 2023: Economic Survey

New Delhi: The capacity of water treatment plants in Delhi increased marginally in 2023 in comparison with the year before that, according to the city's Economic Survey.

Finance Minister Atishi presented the Economic Survey of the city in the Delhi Assembly on Friday.

The capacity of the water treatment plants was 943 MGD (million gallons per day) in 2022. It increased by 0.31 per cent to 946 MGD in 2023, the report stated.

It said the Delhi government has ensured free water of up to 20 kilolitres to every household having a metered water connection and around 24.72 lakh consumers have benefitted under this scheme since its inception.

According to the report, about 93.5 per cent households of in Delhi now have access to piped water supply. It said the treatment plants produce about 1,000 MGD of water consistently during the summer season.

Water is supplied to about 21.5 million people of Delhi through existing water supply networks comprising 15,473-km-long pipelines and more than 117 underground reservoirs (UGRs), it stated.

Based on the norm of 60 gallons per capita per day (GPCD), the total requirement of water for Delhi is 1,290 MGD for the estimated population, the report said.

The water requirement for domestic is 172 LPCD (litres per capita per day), industrial, commercial and community requirements based on 45,000 litres per hectare per day is 47 LPCD, fire protection based on 1 per cent of the total demand is 3 LPCD, and floating population and special uses like hotels and embassies 52 LPCD, the report stated.

To meet the increasing demand for water and in view of limited surface water sources, frequent pollution in raw water sources at Wazirabad and increase in dependence on groundwater sources, augmentation of new tubewells is planned by blending groundwater with surface water to achieve the permissible limits for drinking purpose, it said.

The Delhi Jal Board has 5,169 functional tubewells. In addition, there are 11 functional ranney wells along the Yamuna river. The floodplains of Yamuna and the area adjacent to Najafgarh Lake are being explored for extraction of water on a sustainable basis, the report said.

The DJB is carrying out rejuvenation of 64 water bodies, out of which rejuvenation work at 39 water bodies has been completed and tender for 25 more shall be called shortly. Additionally, the work of creation of a water body at Timarpur oxidation pond, Dwarka, Pappankala, Rohini, Nilothi, revival of Roshanara Lake is currently underway, it said.

The aim of the project of rejuvenation of water bodies is to clean the existing water bodies, restore their ecological values and put in management regimes that are sustainable for the long term, the report stated.

The water tariff is based on the principle of 'use more pay more'. The current water tariff policy serves as a deterrent for consumers excessively consuming water or wasting water. The DJB has collected Rs 1,294.86 crore during 2022-2023, the report said.

The DJB has provided rainwater harvesting in its 594 installations. The rainwater harvesting cell of DJB provides technical assistance to individuals/institutions for providing rainwater harvesting. The DJB has provided the information regarding rainwater harvesting on its website for public facilitation, it said.