The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government's summer action plan to beat water crisis in the parched Capital expected to roll out from April 1 has been delayed for low water supply from treatment plants.
"The supply from treatment plants and underground water reservoirs is low because of water not being treated at full capacity. However, we are working on increasing capacity and efficiency. The plan is expected come out soon," said officials requesting anonymity.
The government had planned to bring out the action plan early this year because of crisis faced by people in January. Usually, the plan is rolled out around June during the peak summers.
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) headed by chief minister Kejriwal had in a recent board meeting stated that water supply will be boosted by stopping leakages and improving maintenance.
However, many parts of Delhi are facing an acute water shortage including South Extension-II, Mehrauli, Rohini and Vasant Kunj, among others.
"Four blocks in our locality have been facing acute shortage of water as the DJB supplies water for few days and then without any prior information stops the supply for over a week. We have written to the chief minister repeatedly, however, our letters have not yielded any good for us. We are now forced to get water through private water tankers which take a toll on our pockets," said S K Mittal, a resident of K block, South Extension II.
Unlike every year, the action plan's focus, officials said will not be on increasing the number of water tankers, rather on improving efficiency and faster redressal of complaints.
DJB vice-chairman Dinesh Mohaniya earlier this month had said keeping in view the scarcity that happened in January, the water utility will come up with a plan early summer.
The water utility at present is supplying around 890 million gallons per day (MGD) of treated water. However, the city still requires 1100 MGD of water to meet the peak demand.
Last year, the DJB had launched a fleet of 320 new tankers to boost the supply. However, officials said, water mafia is another nexus, which plagues the supply system.
According to a 2015 DJB report, at least 40% of water is wasted in leakages. Then around 20-30% is waste water which is not recycled our used efficiently. Also, there are infrastructure issues such as low capacity and improper functioning of booster pumping stations, which are used to supply water to a large number of colonies, the report stated.
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