Home India In a first, south Delhi colony gets drinking water from taps

In a first, south Delhi colony gets drinking water from taps

The inauguration of the scheme saw Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti and Mishra underline the initiative’s importance in bringing Delhi closer to developed countries.

The inauguration of the scheme saw Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

On Sunday afternoon, a residential colony in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar became the first area in the capital to get 24×7 access to potable water from taps. The flagship project is aimed at benefitting 1,900 people in the area and will be implemented in other parts of Delhi soon. Done under a public-private partnership with French company Suez, the scheme was implemented by isolating Navjeevan Vihar hydraulically and following the “calculation of losses”, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials said. The supply of potable water at the colony, officials said, is from the Malviya Nagar underground reservoir command area, which provides water to around 4.5 lakh people in south Delhi.

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“The project will help 340 families. Consumers will be able to get drinking water directly through taps by closing the inlet of the overhead tanks. As part of the project, a leak detection mechanism has also been put in place, and losses at household levels, checked,” said DJB chairperson Kapil Mishra. DJB officials said that three exercises had to be conducted in order to ensure uninterrupted high-quality water supply. “House service connection levels needed to be changed, overhead and underground tanks needed to be bypassed and a high-end leakage detection system had to be formulated,” a senior DJB official said.

Mishra added, “This initiative will help consumers save water from leakages and overflow. It would also help people save money as water bills will get less expensive. It will also end people’s dependency on water purifiers. No water pumps will also be required and hence power consumption will be reduced.” The inauguration of the scheme saw Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti and Mishra underline the initiative’s importance in bringing Delhi closer to developed countries.

Stating that while the pilot project might look like a “small step”, Mishra said the scheme will be replicated in other parts of the capital, which has already been divided into 1,010 units. For residents, it is a dream come true. “In this society, we have seen a lot — from laying down of water pipes to bad performance of overhead tanks and shortage of water and milk. Having gone through that, to get water supply 24×7 seems like a dream. But it has happened,” said J Arora, who has been living at Navjeevan Vihar for more than two decades.

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