Delhi grapples with severe water crisis: Causes, solutions, and political blame game

NEW DELHI: The residents of the national capital are grappling with an intense heatwave as temperatures have skyrocketed, surpassing the 50-degree Celsius mark. To add to their woes, Delhiites are now confronted with an severe water shortage.
Areas affected by water crisis
The affected localities span from the NDMC area to Patel Nagar, and from North to South Delhi.

Various parts including Chanakyapuri's Sanjay Camp area and East Delhi's Geeta Colony are among the worst-hit areas.
The water crisis has also impacted people residing in Mehrauli and Chattarpur, as the scorching heat wave continues to grip the city.

Delhi govt action plan
The

Delhi government

has approached the

Supreme Court

, seeking an increased allocation of water from neighboring states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. The request comes as the national capital grapples with an acute water crisis.
AAP govt has introduced a new approach to address the escalating water crisis in the city. MLA

Atishi

, made an announcement on Thursday regarding the making of a central

water tanker

control room and the deployment of quick response teams across all 11 Delhi Jal Board zones to tackle water-related emergencies effectively.
In order to prevent the misuse of water, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee will assign teams to monitor car washing facilities, while the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will dispatch its own teams to oversee construction sites.
Previously, the Delhi Jal Board had already deployed enforcement teams to ensure that water was not wasted on activities such as washing cars.
The Delhi govt attributes the current water crisis primarily to Haryana's failure to release raw water from the

Yamuna

river to Delhi, as the capital heavily relies on Yamuna water to meet its needs. The raw water is directed to Wazirabad and then distributed to three water treatment plants located in Wazirabad, Chandrawal, and Okhla.
"Wherever there is a shortage of

water supply

, we are sending water tankers to such areas," claimed Atishi. "We are now setting up a central water tanker war room. Any Delhi resident who wants a water tanker should dial 1916. Water tankers will be sent to places from where citizens report a shortage of water supply."
The political blame game
Virendra Sachdeva, the Delhi BJP president, accused the AAP government of corruption on Thursday, claiming that the city's residents were facing a water crisis as a result.
He alleged that water was being wasted and stolen, and the Delhi government had utterly failed to prevent this wastage and theft. "Shamefully, they have imposed a fine of Rs 2000," he said.
Sachdeva refuted the claims made by water minister Atishi that the Haryana government was not supplying Delhi with water, saying that she was hiding the truth.
"Just a few days ago, officials from Delhi govt's flood department and Jal Board went to Hathini Kund Barrage, where officials from Haryana govt were also present," he said.
"After checking the system set up to measure the water, officials from the flood department and Jal Board returned satisfied because Haryana govt is supplying more water to Delhi than promised," he added.
According to Sachdeva, an agreement stipulates that Haryana should provide Delhi with 719 cusecs of water, but it is actually supplying 1,049 cusecs daily. "Now the question arises, what is the reason for water cuts in Delhi when it is receiving more water than promised?" he questioned.
Pointing to water crisis in the capital, Kejriwal said, "But the demand for water supply has shot up due to heatwave. There has been a cut in the water supplied to Delhi from the neighbouring states. It means that demand is huge and shortage is very less."
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