New Delhi: All household water connections in Delhi will now be provided by the Delhi Jal Board itself, without any role of intermediaries, Water Minister Satyendar Jain announced on Tuesday — coming out of the 158th board meeting of the utility board, where several other decisions were approved.
Jain, the DJB Chairman, said the Delhi government is committed to laying sewer lines in all housing colonies within the next three years.
The DJB will lay water pipelines and install meters at consumers' premises. This approval will help in resolving complaints of water contamination, reduce unauthorised connections and increase the number of functional meters in the DJB network, according to the statement. The DJB currently maintains over 13,000 kilometers of water pipeline network but the connection from the DJB pipeline to individual households was the responsibility of consumers so far.
Many times, it was observed that damaged pipelines and leakage at joints led to water contamination which could not be resolved by the DJB because it was beyond its jurisdiction.
With the new policy, the DJB can now rectify problems of old pipelines in the existing colonies as well as provide new meter connections in the upcoming colonies, the authorities said.
The water minister also approved a project to install a 20 MGD (million gallons per day) reverse osmosis plant at the Okhla Water Treatment Plant. The raw water source for the RO plant will be lakes and groundwater. The project, expected to be completed by May 2022, will provide immediate relief to 8-10 constituencies in Delhi.
For improved participation of the public in the governance system, the DJB approved the constitution of water and sewerage committees at the ward and zonal level comprising civil society representatives and DJB officials. The ward level committee will have seven members and the zonal committee 12 members.
The DJB also simplified the financial assistance scheme for installation of rainwater harvesting systems. For residential houses having an area of less than 500 square meters, financial assistance of Rs 25,000 will be provided and for residential houses having an area of 500 square meters and above, Rs 50,000 will be provided.