The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi likely to get more water

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Friday, Aug 17, 2007
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Delhi likely to get more water

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Haryana expected to resume work on 102-km-long Munak channel

Decision follows DJB’s consent to lay pipeline connecting water treatment plants
Channel will cut down water losses due to seepage; check water crisis in Capital

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board has accepted Haryana’s demand for laying a pipeline to connect the water treatment plants at Wazirabad and Haiderpur. Following the water utility’s announcement, work on the Munak channel that had come to a halt, is expected to resume.

Delhi and Haryana have been embroiled in a tussle over the construction of this 11-km pipeline that connects the two water treatment plants. While the Haryana Irrigation Department, entrusted with carrying out the construction work of the Munak channel, stopped work on the ground that the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) must first connect the two water treatment plants, the Board said that the two works were mutually exclusive and accused the Haryana authorities of delaying work on the Munak channel.

“The Board has agreed to lay an 11-km-long pipeline to connect the Wazirabad and Haiderpur water treatment plants. Work will now be awarded and it is likely to be completed in a year’s time,” said DJB Chief Executive Officer Arun Mathur.

Delhi is likely to get an additional 80 million gallons of water a day (MGD) through the 102-km-long Munak channel being built between the Haryana border and Haiderpur. The channel, which is being built at a cost of Rs.315 crore, will cut down water losses due to seepage and Delhi will get an additional 723 cusecs of water.

Though the Haryana Government has already constructed 80 km of the channel, work on the remaining leg was halted following the Haryana Irrigation Department’s insistence that the DJB first lay a pipeline to connect the Wazirabad and Haiderpur water treatment plants.

“We will begin construction of the remaining portion after the monsoon is over in September and complete the work by 2008,” said M. K. Lamba, Superintendent Engineer of the Haryana Irrigation Department.

Sources in the DJB said the interconnection of the plants would also help check water shortage in the city, which is caused when pollution levels in the water rise and the supply has to be cut off.

“When the levels of ammonia and other pollutants in the water passing through Panipat and Sonepat increase, water supply to Wazirabad has to be stopped, which creates a major crisis in the city. But now with the interlinking of the two treatment plants, a water crisis can be averted, ” said sources.

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