Kejriwal urges Centre to increase Delhi's water share; promises 24x7 water supply by 2024

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday urged the Centre to increase Delhi's water share, which has remained "static" since 1996, and said his government would provide a round-the-clock supply of clean drinking water by 2024. The chief minister said the city's population has increased from 1.25 crore to 2.25 crore in the last 23 years, but its water share has not been augmented proportionally.

Kejriwal, flanked by Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendra Jain and senior officials, met Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and demanded that Delhi's water share be increased as the city's population has nearly doubled in the last 23 years. "Delhi's share of water, fixed at 875 cusecs in 1996, has remained static. It needs to be urgently raised," he told the Union minister.

Kejriwal pointed out that according to the Delhi Development Authority's land pooling policy, at least 16 lakh new flats will be constructed in the city, which will further increase the demand for water. Under the land pooling policy, agencies will develop infrastructures like roads, schools, hospitals, community centres and stadia on a part of the pooled land, and return a portion of the plot to farmers who can later execute housing projects with the help of private builders.

Kejriwal also urged Shekhawat to immediately grant approvals for the Delhi government's ambitious project for storing water in the Yamuna floodplains. Even a day's water stored in the project area during monsoon will help meet Delhi's demand for at least six months, he said.

Shekhawat assured that the Union ministry will examine the Delhi government's proposal and give its opinion within three days of receiving it. After the meeting, Kejriwal wrote on Twitter in Hindi, "It was a very positive meeting with you (Gajendra Shekhawat). We together have to find a solution to the water problem in Delhi."

Earlier, at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for Chandrawal Phase-2 water treatment plant, the chief minister said, "Delhi does not have a water source of its own. Its allocation (quota) of Yamuna and Ganga water was fixed in 1996." "In the last 23 years, the city's population has increased from 1.25 crore to 2.25 crore, but its water quota remains unchanged, barring what we received through the Munak Canal. We will urge the Centre to increase it," he said.

"Delhi is the national capital and ensuring enough drinking water in the city is a collective responsibility of every government. We are not demanding water for irrigation, we need drinking water," he said. At present, Delhi gets its water from the Ganga canal, the western Yamuna canal, the Bhakra canal and the Yamuna river. Besides, the DJB draws 80 million gallons of groundwater per day.

Kejriwal also said his government would provide round-the-clock clean drinking water supply to the entire city by 2024. "It's our mission. In the last four and a half years we have made a lot of progress. By 2024, the government would provide clean drinking water to every house through taps," he said.

Kejriwal, who is also the chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, claimed that he inherited a 70-year-old corruption-riddled system four and a half years ago, but his officials have improved it and added 30 per cent of colonies to the water distribution network. The 105 MGD water treatment plant (WTP) at Chandrawal comes after a gap of 13 years. It will be constructed at a cost of Rs 598 crores in three years.

"At present, we are supplying 930 million gallons of water per day (MGD) against the demand of 1,200 MGD," Kejriwal said. Chandrawal Phase-2 will have the advanced technology of ozonisation and activated carbon to ensure the uninterrupted working of the plant.

It will be able to treat high ammonia content up to four parts per million (ppm) in raw water. Earlier, the plant had to be shut down whenever ammonia content increased to one ppm, resulting in a disruption in water supply in its entire command area. Raw water for the plant will be sourced from the upper Yamuna canal and the Wazirabad pond, an official said.