Delhi finishes two new water plants worth 850 crore but lacks raw supply

Delhi has built two new water treatment units costing 850 crore rupees, but the new facilities cannot increase water supply because the city lacks extra raw water.

Plant Details

The two plants located in Dwarka and Chandrawal can process 155 million gallons of drinking water each day. This capacity covers nearly 60 percent of Delhi's 250 MGD water demand-supply deficit. Delhi normally gets most of its water from nine treatment plants that hold a combined capacity of 864 million gallons per day, while another 136 MGD comes from tubewells and borewells.

The Dwarka Unit

A senior official from the Delhi Jal Board stated that the Dwarka Phase-2 plant in south-west Delhi is complete but cannot start working soon due to the raw water shortage. Making this plant operational requires an extra water commitment through the Munak canal from Haryana. Built to treat 50 MGD at a cost of 280 crore rupees, this plant has stayed ready for over eight months without supplying any water.

The Chandrawal Unit

In north Delhi, the new 105 MGD Chandrawal plant cost 599 crore rupees and was designed to run alongside an older 90 MGD facility built in the 1930s. Officials noted that the new plant is running only by diverting water away from the old plant because no extra water exists to run both facilities at the same time. The low water level in the Yamuna river forced authorities to pull water from the old plant for trial production, letting the new unit produce about 50 to 55 MGD.

Plans for More Water

A second Delhi Jal Board official shared that the water utility is working on mid-term plans to get more raw water. These plans include building tubewell installations in areas with high water tables to add about 30 MGD, asking Haryana for 51 cusecs of water from the irrigation quota, and offering treated wastewater from the Rithala sewage treatment plant to Haryana in exchange for drinking-quality raw water.

Context

Urban water management in India often relies on raw water shared across neighboring state boundaries, which makes inter-state cooperation vital for city supply projects. Large capital investments in treatment infrastructure cannot deliver results without secure upstream water sources and adequate river flows. This situation highlights the growing pressure on urban civic bodies to balance infrastructure creation with natural resource availability.