Delhiites often suffer from frequent water shortages during the summer months. The Delhi government’s submissions to their counterparts in UP and Haryana for sufficient supply of water have been ignored in the past. The government had to bear the brickbats from the public as some of the areas of the capital go without water for days together.

Now it appears that water shortages would soon become a thing of past in the near future. The Delhi Jal Board is planning well in time for more supply of water to tide over the dry summer months in the city. The city will get an increased supply of 90 million gallons of water per day from April this year. If the plans for procuring more water do not go awry, the chronic shortages of water in south west areas of Delhi will come to an end.

The Nangloi water plant could not get sufficient supply of water due to a dispute between Delhi and Haryana over Delhi’s share of 20 MGD water from Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). This water was to be released in June last year. Haryana government, however, had stubbornly refused to release Delhi’s share of water despite repeated efforts by the DJB and the Central Water Commission.

Tired of Haryana’s repeated refusals, the Delhi government sent a contempt of court notice to the Haryana Irrigation Department and asked it to reply within 15 days. The Delhi government threatened to initiate contempt of court proceedings against it if it failed to reply within the stipulated period. Haryana government has agreed to supply Delhi’s share of water.

The Nangloi plant, which was to get water from Haryana, had been working at half its capacity for several months due to the inadequate supply of water. Once it gets an increased supply of water from Haryana, the supply from this plant would be doubled and the water starved areas such as Dwarka, Najafgarh, Uttam Nagar, Palam and Hatsal will heave a sigh of relief.

Sonia Vihar water supply plant in Delhi was also not working at its full capacity due to the shortage of water. The infrastructure at this plant could not be tried for full capacity operation due to the shortage of water. The government is going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with UP government for a supply of 140 MGD of water to Delhi. Once the water is available, the trial would be completed within one month. Thereafter the water supply would start in full stream.