Munak Canal breach leaves Dwarka struggling with acute water shortage

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, July 13

Residents of Dwarka have been facing an acute water shortage after the embankment at the Munak Canal’s Carrier Lined Channel (CLC) in Bawana broke early Thursday morning. The flooding in surrounding areas left Bawana inundated. The breach at the CLC canal resulted in the closure of water release in the canal and also halted operations at the Dwarka Water Treatment Plant (WTP), which is fed by water from the CLC.

Supply reduced to once a day

We have been facing acute water shortage issues for the past three months. Earlier, water supply used to come twice a day; then it was reduced to once a day. During that one-time supply, sometimes the water is available for only 45 minutes to an hour. — Pramod Kumar, general secretary, Resident Welfare Association

Repair completed

The repair and restoration work on the broken embankment of the Munak Canal sub-branch was carried out on a war footing. The tank will be filled, and water supply to the Dwarka area is expected to resume by Sunday morning. — Delhi Jal Board officials

Seetha, a resident of Royal Green Apartments in Dwarka, Sector 11, said, “The water shortage issue has been troubling us since 2022; however, it was getting better in April. Water-related issues were prevalent in May and June during the water crisis, and just as the situation was beginning to resolve, the Munak Canal incident occurred.”

Pramod Kumar, general secretary of the Resident Welfare Association, said they have been facing acute water shortage issues for the past three months. “Earlier, water supply used to come twice a day; then it was reduced to once a day. During that one-time supply, sometimes the water is available for only 45 minutes to an hour,” he said.

Varun, a resident of Sector 26 in Dwarka, said, “Water supply came at 3 am on Saturday morning; on Friday, it came at 1 am. We can’t stay up all night; for the past week, the water supply timings have been erratic.”

Delhi Jal Board officials said the restoration of the water supply in the CLC, which supplies water to Delhi from Haryana, has been completed. “The repair work is complete. The tank will be filled, and water supply in the area is expected by Sunday morning,” an official said.

The sudden breach occurred near Hanuman Mandir in Bawana on July 11 around 2 am. “The Haryana Irrigation Department (HID), which is in charge of maintenance of the entire canal, including the Delhi territory, was notified of the mishap immediately, including local engineers,” another official said.

The CLC supplies around 500 cusecs of water every day to Delhi. “Since a minimum of eight hours is required for curing, the HID conducted a fitness test at the site on Saturday. After the curing period, HID released water from the Kakroi regulator (40 km upstream from the Delhi border) at 11 am on Saturday into the CLC canal. Water released in the canal has since reached Delhi,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the operation of the Dwarka WTP, which was earlier affected due to the closure of the CLC, is expected to start functioning from Saturday evening. “The scheduled water supply in the command areas of the Dwarka plant will commence from Sunday morning,” officials added.

Additionally, officials said the pending work of shifting 200 mm air valves along the Dwarka raw water line was started on Friday by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to proceed with their Urban Extension Road-II. “Pumps were deployed to empty the twin 1500-mm diameter water pipelines. Thereafter, the work of shifting the air valves was completed,” they added.

An RWA member remarked that the water supply shortage due to the breach at the Munak Canal seems like a “political gimmick”, adding that residents have been suffering from this issue for a long time.