Nearly 50% of Delhi’s drinking water pipelines decades old: Minister

Nearly 50% of Delhi’s drinking water pipelines, spread over an area of around 7,900 km, are 20 to 30-year-old, and it would take seven to eight years to completely replace them, Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh told the Assembly on Friday.

Maintaining that the government is planning a comprehensive revamp of the entire drinking water network in Delhi, Singh said, “In this tenure of the BJP government, 30% of the water pipelines can be revamped and to achieve this in a phased manner, the government will float tenders and award works in the next one year.” While the overhaul will cost around Rs 50,000 crore, around 7,000 km of old pipelines will be replaced in the next two years, he added.

Singh said that out of Delhi’s 16,000-km water pipeline network, over 5,200 km of pipelines are more than 30 years old and around 2,700-km pipelines are 20 years old. “As a result, there are frequent leakages, pipe bursts, risks of contamination, and losses of up to 55 % as non-revenue water,” he added.

The reply came after many MLAs raised complaints of dirty water supply facing their constituencies.

Taking a dig at the previous AAP government, Singh said that issues like contaminated water, pipeline leaks and irregular supply are not recent, but the “result of years of neglect, indecision and delay by previous governments”.

“Our government took charge of the Water department in an extremely difficult and neglected condition – a legacy of prolonged apathy. We inherited a dilapidated infrastructure and are working on a comprehensive plan to provide 24/7 clean drinking water to each household,” said Singh.

He pointed that due to lack of sewage lines and improper septage management, waste from unauthorised colonies are discharged into the Yamuna. “Trunk sewers had not been cleaned for decades. The entire burden has fallen on the current government, but we are determined to overcome these inherited challenges.”

Singh said that reform projects proposed in 2011 for Chandrawal and Wazirabad command areas remained stalled for years due to cancellation of tenders, repeated re-tendering, and objections raised by funding agencies. The Delhi government has now revived two major water supply projects, Chandrawal and Wazirabad, he added.

“The Chandrawal project, worth Rs 2,406 crore, involves laying 1,044 km of new pipelines and constructing 21 underground reservoirs, benefiting nine Assembly constituencies. The Wazirabad project, a Rs 3,715 crore initiative with Asian Development Bank assistance, includes 1,697 km of new pipelines and 14 underground reservoirs, covering 11 assembly constituencies,” Singh said.

The minister further \said the government has taken several steps to overcome problems in the the last 11 months. He added that 94 major works related to water pipelines, sewer networks and STPs, worth Rs 7,212 crore, have been approved and work has begun on the same.

Further, Singh said 300 tankers will soon be deployed to provide free septic tank cleaning services. “No resident will have to pay a single rupee until every household is connected to the sewer network.”

To increase drinking water production in the Capital, Singh said the government is in talks with neighbouring states. “We are trying to get raw drinking water from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and in exchange give them treated water for irrigation purposes. This arrangement has the potential to add 30 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to the Capital’s total supply,” he added.

“Before the onset of summer, 20 MGD capacity will be added to the Dwarka Water Treatment Plant through new tubewells, benefiting Dwarka, Najafgarh, Vikas Puri, Uttam Nagar, Palam and surrounding areas,” Singh said.