Delhi: DJB to set up 1,000 RO plants with tubewells in unauthorised colonies, water-scarce areas

New Delhi [India], February 17 : The Delhi Jal Board will set up 1,000 RO plants with tubewells in unauthorised colonies and water-scarce areas and no fee will be taken for new connections by the government in unauthorised colonies, said an official statement from the Chief Minister's Office.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a high-level review meeting on Friday to take stock of new water sources, systematic use of every STP for groundwater recharge and to prepare a new integrated water project for East and North-East Delhi.
The review meeting also focused on the speed and efficiency with which water connections were being provided to households in Delhi.
The main focus of the review meeting was to increase the water supply in Delhi, so that sufficient drinking water can be provided from taps in every household of Delhi, it read.
The officials of the Delhi Jal Board conducted a presentation to highlight how the government planned to fulfil the Chief Minister's vision within the prescribed time period.
The officials also informed the CM that work is going on for several measures to increase the water supply in Delhi and a lot of progress has been made in this regard.
CM Kejriwal also instructed the officials to increase the capacity of water treatment plants and said, "Even though we extract water from tube wells, the government is unable to treat it, because the capacity of many water treatment plants is lower than desired."
The CM asked the officials to prepare a plan of all the water treatment plants in Delhi and allocate how the recycled water should be best utilised.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Jal Board made a proposal for the demand of Rs 688 crore from the Delhi government for providing new water connections to every household in Delhi. On this, the CM said that the Delhi government will pay whatever the cost will be, but before that the actual cost of giving the connection should be estimated.
In a related series of developments, people in East and North-East Delhi may soon get 24-hour water supply.
The CM added that this project has been stuck due to the availability of land and design and said that he would speak to the local MLAs and councillors to ensure that the land for the project is made available at the earliest.
At the same time, officials said that water is being drawn from 94 tube wells in Delhi, due to which there has been an increase of about 19 MGD water. They further added that more tube wells are in the process of being installed and these will be made functional very soon.
The CM has instructed the officials to assess the water coming out of tube wells every day. The officers will have to present their report during the next meeting. 259 tube wells are to be installed at Palla, Bhalswa and other locations, which will increase the water supply by 42.5 MGD. A total of 109 tube wells are to be installed in the Palla area. All these tube wells are to be installed on the land of the Forest Department, Gram Sabha, Irrigation Department and the DDA. The work of marking the land for these tube wells is presently ongoing.
The CM has also asked officials to establish coordination with the concerned departments and identify the land as soon as possible, so that work can be started on it expeditiously. Officials said that a joint inspection has been done to find the location and applications have been made to the district administration, the concerned department and the DDA for permission to acquire the land. On the other hand, 150 tube wells are to be installed at Bhalswa and other locations. For this, land has to be taken from DUSIB and DDA. Officials said that a joint inspection has been done with DDA and DUSIB to identify the land.
During the meeting, CM Kejriwal has directed Deputy CM Manish Sisodia to hold a meeting with officials of Gram Sabha, Jal Board and DUSIB to solve the problems being faced in getting the land. Along with this, the Chief Minister has asked the Chief Secretary to talk to the DDA and make the land available at the earliest. The Chief Secretary informed that a meeting has been held in this regard and a meeting has been called next week again. The officials assured that in the next one week the necessary land for the tube well would be acquired by coordinating with the Forest Department, Gram Sabha, Irrigation, DDA and DUSIB.
Notably, it has been learnt that the Delhi Jal Board has decided to set up 1,000 RO plants with tube wells in unauthorised colonies and water-scarce areas, where water is not supplied through pipelines or is currently supplied through water tankers.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Environment Minister Gopal Rai, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Vice Chairman of Delhi Jal Board Saurabh Bhardwaj and senior officers of concerned departments were present in the review meeting.