Delhi Jal Board releases ‘Summer Action Plan’ for water delivery

‘The first step will be to improve water tanker services. Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) has developed an efficient monitoring mechanism for water tankers. The schedule of theses tankers are uploaded on DJB’s website, in order to make the mechanism more transparent and efficient’, said DJB spokesperson Sanjam Chima.

For improving water tanker services, DJB has constructed 23 additional filling point hydrants and 145 tanker filling hydrants, which are functional. This has resulted in a marked improvement in the tanker-filling process.

Right now, about half the tanker fleet is covered and efforts are being made to ensure complete coverage. The Delhi Jal Board’s water supply monitoring system ensures delivery of potable water at designated points, management of water quantities at each location, authorised filling of water, optimal use of the tanker fleet and the provision of SMS facilities’, the DJB spokesperson added.

In order to improve water availability in water deficient areas, 162 additional tube-wells were also installed in the past year. Approximately 80 million gallons of daily (MGD) groundwater is also being added to the water supply system of the city, due installation of additional tube wells, that was carried out by the DJB. At present, there are about 4,400 DJB tube wells and 15 rainy wells in operation.

DJB official said that 1.9 million meter water connections are prevalent in Delhi. But those living in 16 unauthorised colonies do not have water connections. They are dependent on tankers.

The board has also completed the construction of three new underground reservoirs (UGRs), taking the total number of primary UGRs to 105. This has been done in order to rationalize the distribution of water in Delhi. These UGRs at Sultanpur Dabas, Qutab Garh, Ramlila Ground areas will improve water supply in colonies located at north-west and central Delhi areas.

DJB has also consistently focused on increasing its efficiency in handling complaints pertaining to short supply during peak season and in providing satisfactory resolutions. An analysis of last year’s complaints revealed that these were received mainly from four maintenance divisions. ‘This summer, DJB has taken adequate measures to improve service delivery in these critical areas’ a DJB officer said.

DJB has also paid special attention to improve the efficiency of its water tanker services by optimising tanker-filling capacity at each filling point location. It plans to increase the number of trips to more than 5000 trips per day in peak summer, as compared to 4,100 trips per day last summer. This is being done to meet the requirement, on account of the rise in demand of both planned and unplanned areas.

DJB maintains 24 water emergency control rooms situated at strategic locations to cover all parts of the city. These control rooms work round-the-clock. The board has also nominated nodal officers for these control rooms for effective supervision and monitoring of emergencies, in order to efficiently address public complaints’, added the DJB official.