Production capacity to be at 100% within few hours: DJB V-C
New Delhi: Delhi Jal Board, Vice Chairman Raghav Chadha on Saturday inspected the Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant, where water production had decreased due to an overnight increase in levels of ammonia.
During his visit, he ensured the production capacity of the said plant increased to 70-80%. He also held high-level meetings with concerned engineers, Chief Engineer and Member (Water), to ensure that water production increases at both the significant water treatments plants of Delhi Jal Board — Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi.
"Hon'ble CM Arvind Kejriwal's vision of providing 24*7 water to every resident of Delhi has to be a reality. I am here at Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant, which has the individual capacity of 140 MGD, and I'm pleased to inform you that the water production at this plant now stands at 70-80% of its total capacity," Chadha said.
Chadha said that he is certain that the production capacity will be at its maximum of 100% within a few hours.
"I have met with the concerned engineers, including Chief Engineer and Member (water), all of whom have been working continuously to ensure that the supply of water in affected areas of South Delhi, East Delhi and North East Delhi is restored," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Vice Chairman had issued an urgent statement detailing the reasons for the said latest increase. He said, "Delhi is a landlocked city and gets water from the neighbouring states. Due to annual maintenance, water coming from Uttar Pradesh, that is from Ganga has stopped. This happens every October. Unfortunately, this maintenance work has coincided with the incidence of water that is released from Haryana into River Yamuna--the water which comes into Delhi. Now, due to the discharge of that water from Haryana, the level of ammonia increased."
He further explained about the level of ammonia in the water, which is somewhere between 1.7PPM to 1.9PPM. "Yesterday, this had gone up to almost 3.5PPM, which is perceived as an extremely high level of toxicity and is not fit for human consumption. As a result, the two significant water treatment plants at Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi, which treats the water that comes in from Yamuna, had to be shut."
