New Delhi: The Haryana government has assured supply of 1,000 cusecs of water, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday.
Gupta held a detailed review meeting on drinking water challenges and water supply situation with Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials.
"To tackle the water-related challenges, an assurance has been given by Haryana to maintain a minimum of 1,000 cusecs of water supply through the Munak Canal," she said after speaking to Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
Being a landlocked city, Delhi is dependent on neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for raw water supply. DJB's overall average production capacity ranges between 990 and 1,000 million gallons per day (MGD) of drinking water, including the tubewells.
The chief minister also said that efforts are being made to provide relief to the people through more than 980 tankers and over 6,000 daily trips.
In the past several days, the DJB had been struggling to maintain its average water production which has fallen by around 90 million gallons per day (MGD) from its target of 1,002 MGD this year.
In the past week, the DJB received 11,055 complaints on its helpline, out of which more than 8,500 complaints have been resolved, claimed officials.
"In the past few days, the DJB was receiving around 900 to 924 cusecs of water through the Munak Canal, the neighbouring state has assured to provide 100 cusecs more than the allocated amount of 924 cusecs to Delhi," a DJB official said.
Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said the water level at Wazirabad has fallen from its normal pond level of 674.5 feet to nearly 668 feet, resulting in a shortage of raw water and affecting water production by nearly 80-100 MGD.
"This situation has been aggravated by the prolonged dry spell in the upper reaches of the Yamuna," Singh added.
The chief minister directed the officials to take immediate action by considering every incident of water leakage seriously.
"Every single drop of water is precious and any kind of wastage will not be acceptable. The government is paying equal attention to immediate relief measures as well as long-term solutions so that the water crisis can be permanently controlled in the future," the chief minister said in a statement.
Gupta also said that the DJB will be roping in IIT Roorkee to conduct a feasibility study of bringing water through a pipeline from Haryana as a long-term effort.
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"Work on long-term water management plans should also be done at an equal pace, so that future requirements can also be effectively met along with immediate relief. Under this, a study on the feasibility of bringing water through a pipeline from Haryana is being conducted by IIT Roorkee, so that water loss and leakage can be reduced," Gupta added.
Additionally, by establishing additional borewells in the Yamuna Khadar area, water production capacity has been increased by 10.5 MGD per day.
She said that as part of water conservation efforts, the government is working on a plan for the construction of 500 new rainwater harvesting structures and the revival of 1,000 old structures has started. The tender process for this has also been initiated, she added.
