Now, UP threatens to cut water supply to Delhi

NEW DELHI: Even as the water situation in Delhi is showing signs of improvement, another crisis is looming over the national capital. Now, Uttar Pradesh has threatened to reduce supply to Delhi from May 8. However, after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke to the UP government, it has given verbal assurances that Delhi’s supply will not be affected.
Meanwhile, water level in the Yamuna is likely to rise in the next couple days.
“The UP government sent a letter, saying it would reduce our supply by 300 cusec or roughly 190 million gallons per day (MGD). This would have severely impacted our Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi water treatment plants, which have an average production capacity of 240 MGD, disrupting supply to east and south Delhi. However, the matter was taken up with the UP government and told that drinking water supply needed to be prioritised over agricultural and industrial use. They have agreed not to cut the supply,” said a senior official.
However, with levels of water precariously low in the Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand, it remains to be seen how long UP will be willing to meet Delhi’s demand.
The same applies to Haryana where water level is dangerously low in the Hathnikund Dam.
The level at the Wazirabad pond had dropped from the Supreme Court mandated 674.5ft to 670ft on Thursday. By Friday, it rose to 671.3ft, allowing Delhi Jal Board to scale up production at the Wazirabad and Chandrawal plants, which were working at less than 50% of their capacity on Thursday because of an inadequate supply of untreated water.
“The river has been drying up and the level of water in the Wazirabad pond fell suddenly. We were aware that there is a water crisis in Haryana but we were not expecting it to impact Delhi in May itself. However, now things are looking up and we expect the shortage to last for another two days or so,” said a senior DJB official.
Haryana irrigation department officials said that because of rain in Yamuna’s catchment areas, the water level in the river had increased, which would help Delhi to tide over the immediate crisis.
“However, if the temperature rises again and there is no rainfall till June-end, it will be difficult to guarantee water to Delhi,” said an official. “Delhi should use water judiciously and not overdraw from the river at this point. We are mandated to ensure that the level in Wazirabad pond does not fall below 674.5ft, but it will put immense pressure on Haryana’s own resources.”