Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman Shri Somnath Bharti visited the Sehvikas Society in IP Extension of East Delhi on Friday. The DJB Vice Chairman met the residents of various societies and personally inquired about their water supply and sewerage related problems. Local residents told the DJB Vice Chairman that their societies were getting supply of contaminated water for the last many days and people have been facing lots of problems due to this. Shri Somnath Bharti assured the residents that the problem of contaminated water supply would be resolved for good within the month. He instructed DJB officials to replace the old water pipelines. Taking cognizance of media reports on this matter, the DJB Vice Chairman also spoke to the complainant on the phone and assured to come to her society and meet the residents of the societies to understand the problems. The residents of the societies were demanding to be provided relief in penalty on water bills, increase in water supply as well as their need for additional tubewell connections. The DJB Vice Chairman assured the residents that he would look into their demands. People welcomed the initiative taken by Shri Somnath Bharti and expressed happiness that their problems would be resolved soon.
Old water supply pipelines to be replaced; permanent solution to be in place in one month
Shri Somnath Bharti told the residents of societies that taking immediate cognizance of the matter, the Chief Minister has given instructions for expedited action. All the information regarding the case has been obtained from the officials. Discussion has also been held with DDA and PWD departments. This meeting has been called after talking to the concerned officials. Delhi Jal Board is constantly striving to provide real time solutions to the problems. He also shared that these flats belong to the DDA. The water pipeline here is several years old and passes through PWD drains on both sides of the road. He promised the residents that the problem of contaminated water will be resolved for good within a month. DJB officials have been instructed to replace the old water pipe lines.
There is a problem of contaminated water supply in three societies here. DJB will replace the old pipeline of these three societies and a plan for the same has been prepared by the Delhi Jal Board.
Problem of contaminated water will end; people of Delhi could soon drink water directly from the tap
Shri Somnath Bharti stated that Delhi Jal Board is working to separate sewers and drains. While appealing to the people to save rainwater, he said that rain is a gift by God. Everyone needs to save rainwater together and recharge the ground water through rainwater harvesting. He added that Delhi Jal Board’s water is better than RO systems, but due to leakage and broken pipelines, clean water gets contaminated. On the instructions of Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal, a campaign is being run in Delhi under the policy of zero tolerance against supply of contaminated water. Once the residents of Delhi are sure that the water is not contaminated, then they would be able to drink Delhi Jal Board water directly from the tap. By drinking tap water, 30-40% wastage of water from RO can also be stopped and water could be saved. The DJB has banned private plumbers from working on DJB’s pipelines. The rules have been changed to protect water from any kind of contamination or tampering. Now only DJB employees can work with these pipelines.
Delhi to become self-sufficient in drinking water availability with the help of treated water
Putting emphasis on rainwater harvesting, DJB Vice Chairman Shri Somnath Bharti said that rain water will be stored by making pits in all residential societies of Delhi. Ground water will be recharged by making pits through borewells. The surface water will gradually seep into water table without a bollwell system. Delhi Jal Board will provide all possible help to the people of Delhi in rain water harvesting.
He said that the Delhi Jal Board is increasing the sewage treatment capacity in the national capital. Moreover, efforts are also being made to increase the quality of treated water to reach the prescribed standard of 10/10. Delhi’s sewage treatment capacity is 768 MGD at present. Natural and artificial lakes are being developed in every waste water treatment plant (WTP) by DJB under the vision of CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal. Ground water will be recharged by filling these lakes with treated water. Tubewells are also being installed to extract ground water and increase water availability. The water from tubewells will be cleaned in the RO plants and brought back into the supply system. After the completion of this project, there will be no shortage of water in Delhi and the national capital will become self-sufficient in terms of drinking water availability.
