Delhi water crisis: Stop wastage of water in national capital, Supreme Court tells Kejriwal govt

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, June 6

As the national capital faced an acute water crisis, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Delhi government to ensure that there is no wastage of water.

“We are conscious of the fact that due to the acute water shortage, there should be no wastage of water by the Delhi government for which it should adopt the measures suggested by the Upper Yamuna River Board,” a Vacation Bench of Justice PK Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan said.

The Bench – which directed the Himachal Pradesh government to release 137 cusecs of its surplus water to Hathni Kund Barrage for its onward supply to Delhi to enable it to deal with peak summer water crisis — asked the Delhi government to file a compliance report by June 10 – the next date of hearing.

On Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Menta had pointed out that 52.35 per cent of water in Delhi either went waste or was pilfered by the water tanker mafia, leaving just 47.65 per cent water for Delhiites.

In its June 5 meeting with all stakeholders, including the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, the Upper Yamuna River Board suggested separating commercial water supply from domestic water supply and curtailing such use during the crisis period, particularly in industrial and recreational uses.

The Board also advised use of recycled water for secondary uses such as gardening, car washing, etc, and improving efficiency in water distribution and uses.

The top court noted that the Board has also suggested lining of raw water conveyance channels for long distance water transfer including use of closed conduit wherever feasible to bring down conveyance losses.

“In particular, urgent action is needed for the Delhi Branch/Delhi Sub Branch which will bring down losses substantially (of the order of 25%),” the Board said.