Haryana releases 200 cusecs; DJB says dip in Yamuna level responsible

After a week of water shortage in parts of the Capital, supply is expected to return to normal by Friday, or Saturday at the latest, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has said.

The shortage was triggered after water supply from Haryana reduced, leading to a fall in production at the Wazirabad treatment plant on May 12.

Operating below capacity

Both the Wazirabad and Chandrawal treatment plants were operating under capacity this week.

On Wednesday, a senior DJB official said that Haryana had released 200 cusecs of water, which was expected to reach Delhi by 4 a.m. on Thursday.

Both plants will start working at full capacity on Thursday morning, said the official.

CM takes to Twitter

However, it can take another 24 to 36 hours for supply to return to normal at the household-level.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, said that production would be normal by Thursday morning, while distribution whould normalise later in the day.

In a tweet, Mr. Kejriwal said the government was “constantly monitoring” the situation.

Delhi’s supply had fallen after a dip in the water level in the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana.

‘Politics of water’

On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had asked Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to ask the Prime Minister’s Office to intervene if the problem persisted.

Mr. Sisodia had even accused Haryana of playing “politics of water”.

According to sources in the DJB, the decrease in supply from Haryana was a result of the overall dip in water level in the Yamuna, which happens during the summer.

Earlier, the DJB had said that supply had been affected from May 12 and would continue to be hit till Tuesday evening in parts of north, north-west and west Delhi.