Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday visited ammonia treatment plant in Shakarpur area of East Delhi and directed Delhi Jal Baord officials to replicate the plant in various areas to augment water supply. Importantly, this plant treats the water and decreases the ammonia levels in it to make it drinkable.
Significantly, if the existing Ranney wells and borewells are made functional with the technology to treat ammonia, Delhi will get approximately 63 MLD of extra drinking water. This would add up to the existing source of water for Delhi and this will help in summer to fulfill water requirements.
In addition to the existing ones, new bores will also be done to further augment water supply. The water generated from new bores will be in addition to the 63 MLD water mentioned from the existing sources.
This technology will be a great news for east Delhi and South Delhi, both of them face problem of high ammonia content. It is pertinent because due to high ammonia content, 7 Ranney wells and more than 100 tube wells are non functional in Delhi. In many areas of East Delhi, ground water levels are high but water could not be utilised due to high ammonia content and hence large potential of available ground water could not be utilised till now. Recently, Kejriwal instructed DJB to find scientific solution to solve this problem. On his directions, the technology to treat ammonia was pilot tested at a Ranney well in Shakarpur, East Delhi, which is non-functional for past many years.
"The results were tested by the quality control department of the DJB over a period of one month and the pilot has now been found to be successful. After his visit to the plant, the Chief Minister on Saturday, instructed to replicate the technology/ammonia treatment plant all over Delhi to restart non-functional borewells and Ranney wells.
It will also help in making new borewells especially in East Delhi where the water table is high," said Delhi government's spokesperson.
Incidentally, more than 100 borewalls and 7 ranney wells are non-functional in Delhi. With this technology all these non-functional or closed borewells can now be made functional. There are around 80 borewells in South Delhi, which are non-functional, more than 25 are non-functional in East Delhi.
"The water table is high in most part of East Delhi, and with this ammonia treatment technology, new borewells can also come up in the area.
Once the technology is implemented, it would come as a great source of creating more water for the people of Delhi," the Government officials said further.