It took almost three weeks for the Delhi Jal Board to restore water supply to the national Capital after Jat agitators seeking reservation in Central Government jobs damaged Munak canal in Haryana — effectively cutting off about two-thirds of New Delhi’s water supply.
The canal, which supplies water from the Yamuna River at Munak, Karnal district in Haryana to Delhi, accounts for about 60 per cent of the city’s water demands. Another 25 per cent comes from groundwater, while the polluted Yamuna River supplies about 12 per cent.
The canal supplies raw water to Bawana, Nagloi, Dwarka, Haidarpur, and Okhla water treatment plants. Of the total production of 820 Million Gallons per day (MGD) of potable water, around 580 MGD of raw water comes from Munak canal.
Apparently during Jat quota agitation, the State Government had to shut down Wazirabad and Chandrawal, Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) due to the ammonia increase in the Yamuna, aggravating the water crisis. These WTPs carry raw water from the river.
Taking the cognisance of the situation, the Delhi Government was forced to start these WTPs with utmost urgency; however, these WTPs were again shut down as the ammonia level breached the permissible limit.
Delhi Jal Board official, who visited the Munak canal, said that the damage was so extensive that it took 15 days to restor the water flow in the canal. “A team of DJB engineers was sent to assess the damage caused by the mob in the Haryana portion of the Carrier lined Channel (ClC) and the Delhi Sub-Branch Canals, which together carry about 1,050 cusecs (570 MGD) of water to the seven Water Treatment Plants of Delhi,” said the official.
During the Jat agitation, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Government was forcedc to order closure of all schools for a day and started water rationing.
later, the Central Government stepped in to restore water supply and instructed the Haryana Government to ensure that water supply to Delhi is restored soon. Acting swiftly on the Centre’s directive, the Manohar lal Khattar-led Government rushed paramilitary forces and a technical team of the Irrigation Department to Akbarpur-Barota point, near Munak canal in Sonepat district, which was under siege by Jat agitators.
Speaking to The Pioneer, a senior DJB official said, “Due to the security forces who took over the control on the banks of the canal, the water from Delhi sub-branch canal was diverted to various Water Treatment Plants through old Munak canal or kachi Munak canal.” Also, the gates of Delhi sub-branch canals were closed by the Jat protesters, he added.
“Even though water supply from the Bawana, Dwarka, Narela, Haiderpur and Nagloi WTPs were started with less flow of water, West Delhi area was badly hit for a more than two weeks. Since the water supply is less and demand is more, the West Delhi area was affected hardly,” said the official.
An official said that during the emergency, about 30 to 60 MGD of water was released to the Haiderpur WTP, which has a capacity of 226 MGD. The Nagloi WTP having a capacity of 40 MGD received about 30 MGD water whereas as Bawana WTP got 10 MGD water against a capacity of 20MGD. The Dwarka WTP which
has a capacity of 40 MGD was supplied about 6 to 7 MGD water only.
The city Government had also announced the rationing of water equally among all residents of the city — barring the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India, among others.
Delhiites were forced to stock up water in containers and buckets, use water from borewell, tubewells, and use treated water from the parks.
Yet even when the Munak canal flow is unimpeded, the overall water supply is not enough to meet New Delhi’s needs, and shortages are common during the dry seasons.