The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi wastes 45 per cent drinking water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delhi wastes 45 per cent drinking water

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27. Constantly starved of adequate drinking water, Delhi records a waste of a whopping 45 per cent of its potable water due to pipeline leaks, stealing and transmission losses, claims a report brought out by a non-government organisation, Tapas.

While Delhi Jal Board admits that drinking water is constantly wasted through leaks in the water pipeline, stealing and transmission losses, it refuses to change the old pipelines despite orders. Tapas claims that this waste could be prevented if the pipes are changed and orders of the High Court followed.

"The DJB has an installed capacity to treat 650 million gallons of water, but can actually supply only 400 million gallons of treated water, while the rest of the requirement is met through ground water supply which is fast depleting in the State. Delhi, as per records, requires 800 million gallons each day to meet its water needs and with the increase in population and rapidly falling water table, the pressure on water is very high. And with no independent agency ever having audited the same, the DJB has escaped with whatever figures they have been supplying,'' said Vinod Kumar Jain, who filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court in 2000 on "Augmentation of Water Supply''.

But the case against the DJB is water tight not just because of the waste but also because of the fact that despite having been shown the fault in the system, it does not seem keen to plug the problem.

According to figures provided by the DJB, Delhi's drinking water pipeline is about 9,000 km and of certain sections may be 50 years old. And in the past four years despite the constant pressure to change the pipelines, the DJB has managed to change only about a little over 762 km of the water pipeline. Also, the DJB provides no small-localised sewages and wastewater treatment plants in the city.

"That is exactly what we are saying, despite the requirement by the Courts, the Board has not changed the pipes, instead they are busy playing the blame game. What they do not tell the public is the fact that the leaks and stealing is dangerous in more ways than one. While water is wasted because these lines run parallel to sewages lines, contamination is also common,'' adds Mr. Jain.

For its part, the DJB claims to have set up a separate Leak Detection Cell and says that special stress was being given to replacement of old water pipelines. It also claimed that during the year about 208 km of old eroded water lines have been replaced in different parts of Delhi.

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