Ammonia, low water-level to affect supply, says DJB

New Delhi: The Delhi Jal Board on Wednesday announced that water supply to large parts of the Capital is likely to be affected in the coming days because the production capacity of its plants at Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla has been hit by continuously increasing Ammonia levels and decreasing in-flow into the Yamuna.

The DJB said areas in West Delhi, North Delhi, Central Delhi, and South Delhi including Delhi Cantonment and New Delhi Municipal Council will likely get water at low pressure for the next three to four days tentatively and till the water levels are checked and the quality of raw water in the Yamuna improves.

Significantly, DJB Vice-Chairman Raghav Chadha had on Tuesday blamed the Haryana government for increasing Ammonia levels in the Yamuna and the depleting water levels.

"We demand that the Haryana government must supply water that it is legally designated to, and within the range of treatable PPM. Up to 1 ppm of water can be treated, and beyond that, it cannot be treated," Chadha had said.

On Wednesday, Chadha also wrote to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over the issue and said high ammonia concentration in Yamuna water results in "partial or complete" shutdown of two water treatment plants -- Chandrawal and Wazirabad -- which supply around 228 million gallons of drinking water to the people of Delhi.

"Ammonia levels rose to 8.4 parts per million on Wednesday. Along with it, short supply of raw water has caused a major impact on drinking water supply in Delhi. The production capacity at the two WTPs has reduced by an alarming 40 per cent due to the combination of these two factors," he said.

It is affecting "22 million people in Delhi and their right to clean drinking water", Chadha said.