Overview
- In early June a dry spell in the Yamuna reduced raw‑water inflows by about 100 million gallons a day, forcing output at Wazirabad and Chandrawal treatment plants to fall well below target and creating acute shortages.
- Complaints of foul and sewage‑tinged piped water have spread from Gulmohar Park to Hauz Khas, Lajpat Nagar and other neighbourhoods with residents reporting diarrhoea and some hospitalisations.
- The Delhi Jal Board has pressed I&FC dredging machines into service at Wazirabad, increased tanker runs, begun excavation and desilting work and is collecting roughly 1,700 water samples daily to locate and fix contamination points.
- Short‑term moves run alongside fast‑track steps such as a Phase‑I rainwater‑harvesting drive (500 new systems and 1,000 restorations with work orders issued in early June and a June 30 target) plus plans for a Water Rationalisation Project, pipeline replacement, a DSB canal feasibility study by IIT Roorkee and a dual‑piping pilot.
- Officials cite decades‑old infrastructure and large transmission losses as root causes — about 5,500 km of Delhi’s 16,634‑km network is over 30 years old and the DSB canal loses roughly 40–45% of its water — leaving the city short of the 1,250 MGD peak demand and with no firm timeline for full restoration.