Delhi enters uncharted waters

If you are a resident of Delhi, it wouldn’t matter if you have a residence proof or not; neither would it matter if your settlement is illegal. You will get individual water connection that will supply enough water for your daily use. When it comes to supplying water, Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the main authority to collect, treat and distribute water in the capital, will treat the slum dwellers on a par with other city residents. The new Jal Adhikar Scheme acknowledges that water is a basic right that can’t be denied to people of any kind. This is a welcome move, no doubt, but the plan is expected to face several roadblocks. 

Delhi already has 19 lakh functional connections. According to a report, Urban Slums in Delhi, brought out by the government, there were about 6,343 slums with around 10.20 lakh households in urban Delhi in 2012. This means, the number of connections will see a manifold rise in the coming years. 

More regular connections will fetch greater revenue to the government, reduce individual expenses on acquiring water from non-government sources and also check overexploitation of groundwater by private operators.

Water as a priority

The Aam Aadmi Party came to power in Delhi last year with improved water supply as its main poll plank. Several decisions have been taken since, in an attempt to prove that action follows words.

One of the earliest decisions was to supply 20,000 litre of water free of cost to every house. The move was criticised by experts as favouring wastage, but the residents cheered it. DJB now claims to be saving more than four million gallons a day as consumers tend to consume less water to remain within the 20,000 litre limit.

In one year, DJB increased its revenue through improved billing and collection systems and incentives for regularisation of illegal connections. A partial waiver on pending bills also led to more people joining the mainstream.

Rajeev Sharma, who had bought a flat few years back, found out later that there was Rs 60,000 as unpaid water bill. He decided not to pay until DJB announced the waiver. “I just had to pay Rs 10,000 and get back in the good books. I am not getting anymore water bills now as my consumption never exceeds 20,000 litres,” he says.

As chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, the main contention at the base of this decision was that most of the bills were incorrect, prepared on an average basis, without reading meters. Unlike a power connection, water supply is not disconnected to houses which don’t pay pending bills. Considering that the recovery of water dues was almost nil, it was a good move to let the defaulter join the payment cycle again on the condition that they first install a functional meter.

Dwarka gets better supply

The sub-city of Dwarka in south-west Delhi was known to be dependent on water tankers by the Delhi Development Authority. Following the Delhi high court’s directions, DJB took over the water supply. The release of an additional 80 million gallons per day (MGD) by Haryana after Delhi took it to court for not sharing water helped in phasing out of 72 water tankers and 125 tube wells. 

“The water, coming from Munak canal, is of better quality now. Earlier, the water filters used to break down every few months due to high level of total dissolved solids in groundwater. The only issue now left to be resolved is the installation of water meters which is in the initial stages currently,” says Sushil Kumar, convener of Dwarka Forum, an umbrella organisation of resident welfare associations of the area. 

Sangam Vihar has a different story

Most of the slums and unauthorised colonies depend on private operators who supply water tankers from illegal borewells for a heavy fee. In fact, it is believed that these operators bribe DJB officials to keep the government supply low so that they get maximum business. 

DJB claims to have taken control of water tankers and borewells in Sangam Vihar, Asia’s biggest unauthorised colony that sits on the southern end of Delhi. We found this to be far from true. Pramod Kumar, who stays in Sunday Bazaar area of Sangam Vihar, depends on private tanker operators who charge Rs 1,200 per house owner and an additional Rs 500 for a tenant. “Even though DJB took over the borewells, the supply chain is still controlled by local politicians. Their loyalists get water in their houses while people like us have to fetch it from a common spot where the tanker stops. That means, you just get one or two buckets of water,” he says. Pramod has complained against the DJB staff several times but never got a redressal.

B.M. Dhaul, member (engineering department) of DJB, says DJB can supply water tankers only at designated places in neighbourhoods, not to individual houses, until and unless it’s extremely important. 

The area also has a pipeline network which is supplied by various borewells. The supply, however, varies from alternate days to once in 15 days, depending on where you are located.  

DJB also claims that the new supply line from Okhla water treatment plant early this year has solved the water scarcity problem. Ram Chandra’s house falls on the same network but he got water only for a couple of days. “I spend around Rs 3,000 every month on water. What’s the point of having this pipeline when you don’t get water from it?” he asks.

One reason for poor supply could be the illegal siphoning off water by other residents. “When people don’t get enough water, they are forced to claim the resource illegally. They collect money in a neighbourhood and hire a plumber who breaches the main line and adds a new pipe which carries water to individual houses,” says Anuj Gupta, who works with Swaraj Abhiyan, a splinter political group of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party. “The pipeline supply is just a start, let’s not expect a big turnaround overnight,” Dhaul says.

What’s in store next

Another problem plaguing water supply in Delhi is unequal distribution. While areas like Lutyens’ Zone and Cantonment Area get 400-500 litre per capita per day (lpcd), a congested locality like Mehrauli gets 28 lpcd. Now DJB is planning to divide the city into judicious cells and supply water depending on the number of consumers. This may also help identify and repair water leakages. 

Another aspect DJB is planning to work on is rejuvenation of around 1,000 ponds and lakes and 22 drains. One of the reasons for this is Delhi’s heavy dependence on neighbouring states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to get water from the Yamuna and the Ganga respectively. The quota stir by Jat community in Haryana this year had disrupted the supply through Munak canal, which feeds 40 lakh Delhiites. Restoration of the in-house water structures will help save more rainwater which can serve the residents and also improve the groundwater table. “Though DJB is keen to revive these ponds, the most difficult task is to remove encroachments which have come up over a period of time,” says Dhaul.

“It’s still early days to talk on this initiative. However, the government seems to be having the right intent,” says Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, a group working on water issues in the national capital region.

Shailendra Sharma, a resident of Mehrauli area, feels improved water supply is the biggest achievement of the one-year-old state government. “There’s an evident change in the functioning of DJB. Meter reading is regular, complaints are listened to and the number of inflated bills has reduced,” he says. Considering that water is one of the most important and basic service, Delhi government seems to be doing the right things even if they seem radical.