NEW DELHI: Delhi govt is preparing a water master plan that will include long-term and structural measures aimed at modernising the city’s ageing drinking water distribution network and addressing long-standing issues of leakage, contamination and uneven water supply. Under the plan, govt is planning to organise the water distribution system into nine operational zones, each centred around a major water treatment plant (WTP) that will function as a command hub for managing supply infrastructure, upgrading water treatment capabilities and infrastructure, and repairing or relaying pipelines on a need-to-need basis.“For the first time, we are preparing Water Master Plan of Delhi as we want to make long-term and future-ready plans to fix the structural legacy problems that the water production and supply system of Delhi currently faces,” water minister Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said. “We have engaged an agency that will study all major aspects of water supply and production, including sources of water, future requirements and water pipeline maintenance,” Verma added. “In the next one year, we will engage major private players with relevant experience through open tenders for the management of Command Centres. In future, these companies will be given each of the zones, and they will be responsible for managing all the major operations in those areas.” While a large water network was laid more than four decades ago, over half of the city’s pipelines are 20 years old or older and deteriorated over time due to corrosion, repeated repair and increasing load from a growing population, often resulting in leakages, contamination and significant water losses before supply reaches households. “The move is aimed at fixing challenges such as leakages, contamination and low water pressure that many neighbourhoods continue to face, which affects the quality of water as well as the supply system,” said Verma. Under the proposed framework, supply operations and household connections will be integrated with command centres, enabling real-time monitoring of the distribution network. Consultants will be appointed for each zone to assess the existing infrastructure, identify pipelines that need replacement and determine areas where new connections are required. Each command centre will oversee water infrastructure across clusters of 10-15 assembly constituencies. They will coordinate distribution, monitor supply levels and track leakages in their respective zones. An official said work had already begun in the area supplied by the Chandrawal WTP. It involves replacing nearly 1,044km of ageing pipelines, constructing 12 underground reservoirs and refurbishing nine storage facilities. The plan also includes the creation of 147 district metered areas to improve monitoring of water flow and detect leakages. The redesigned network is expected to maintain a water pressure of around 22 metres even at the farthest points of the supply line. Similar upgrades are planned for the command areas of eight other major treatment plants — Wazirabad, Haiderpur, Nangloi, Okhla, Dwarka, Bawana, Bhagirathi and Sonia Vihar. According to officials, preliminary project reports for some zones, including the area served by the Wazirabad WTP, have been prepared, while detailed project reports are being developed for west and southwest regions. Currently, Delhi produces 900-1,000 million gallons per day of water, while its requirement is estimated at nearly 1,200MGD. Demand typically rises during the summer months. Authorities said the long-term objective of the master plan was to digitally map and monitor the entire water network zone by zone, reducing losses, improving supply reliability and ensuring consistent pressure across the city.
