The Crossbill News Desk
Serious concerns over drinking water safety and management practices in the national capital have emerged following the presentation of a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, highlighting systemic deficiencies in testing standards, treatment processes and distribution efficiency within the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).
The report, tabled in Delhi Assembly last week on Monday (March 23), also flags glaring lapses in water testing, monitoring, and infrastructure including use of carcinogenic polyelectrolytes in treatment process.
The CAG report, titled “Functioning of Delhi Jal Board”, said, “Quality testing of groundwater was carried out on 16,234 samples by the eight zonal laboratories of the DJB during the period 2017-18 to 2021-22. Out of the total samples tested, 8,933 samples (55 per cent) were found unfit for potable purposes.”
The percentage of failed water samples ranged from 49% to 63% during the audit period.
“Supplying groundwater from areas where samples were found unfit poses serious health risks to the public,” it added.
To be sure, Delhi has been progressively reliant on groundwater sources to meet its water supply demands. Of the city’s 1,000 MGD (million gallons per day) water supply, around 135 MGD comes from groundwater sources like tubewells.
The CAG audit also flagged the practice of mixing treated and untreated water.
“During test check of records and information furnished by the DJB projects division and laboratories, it was found that 80 MGD to 90 MGD raw water from borewells/ranney wells was supplied to UGRs/consumers directly without treatment by DJB during 2017-18 to 2021-22, thus compromising water quality which could be hazardous to the health of the people,” it added.
Additionally, the CAG report flagged shortages of staff and equipment at the DJB testing labs, adding that water was not being tested as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms. Against 43 parameters, “DJB was testing only 12 parameters during the water treatment process,” it noted.
As a result, for instance, there was a shortfall up to 69% at the Dwarka WTP and 62% at the Sonia Vihar WTP in testing of required parameters at all stages of the water treatment process.
The audit report also notes even though DJB draws raw water from borewells, this water was only tested on four of 46 parameters. Critical parameters like “toxic substances” “radioactive substances”, “biological tests”, and “virological tests” were not conducted. Tests for the presence of heavy metals like arsenic, copper, lead, etc. in the water were also not conducted by DJB.
“The presence of radioactive substances and heavy metals in drinking water can be fatal as these substances may cause damage to the liver, kidney, and intestine, and also cause anemia and cancer in humans,” the report added.
CAG also flagged the continued use of banned polyelectrolytes at Haiderpur plant. In a DJB memorandum issued in May 2016, it banned the use of polyelectrolytes at all WTPs and recycling plants due to their carcinogenic properties.
“Audit observed that the private operator of recycling plant at Haiderpur WTPs was using polyelectrolytes in the treatment process since 2017-18 despite it being prohibited by the Testing and Quality Control Department of DJB,” the report said.
CAG report has also noted the increase in the failure rate of the number of water supply samples internally tested by DJB’s labs. During the period 2018-19 to 2021-22, cases of samples failing in “physical quality tests: out of the total sample collected more than doubled and increased from 0.81% to 1.74% of the total samples collected. Similarly, samples that failed “chemical quality tests” also doubled from 0.83% to 1.76%. This shows a deteriorating trend in the quality of water being supplied to residents of Delhi by DJB, it noted.
The CAG also flagged an increase in water transmission loss from reservoirs. During the 2017-22 period, the transmission loss of water distributed from Under Ground Reservoirs (UGRs)/Service Reservoirs (SRs) increased from 16% to 21%.
“The situation was further aggravated by inequitable supply of potable water at zonal level. The per capita availability of potable water was less than 20 GPCD in four zones and less than 40 gallon per capita per day (GPCD) in eight zones against the requirement of 60 GPCD,” it added.
Delhi also faces a massive problem of water loss and theft.
“Non-Revenue Water (NRW) ranged between 51 and 53% of the average quantity of the water supplied per day during 2017-22, except for 2019-20,” the report stated.
CAG has estimated the amount of revenue not realised by DJB during the said period on account of NRW was over Rs 4,988 crore.
The report, tabled in Delhi Assembly last week on Monday (March 23), also flags glaring lapses in water testing, monitoring, and infrastructure including use of carcinogenic polyelectrolytes in treatment process.
The CAG report, titled “Functioning of Delhi Jal Board”, said, “Quality testing of groundwater was carried out on 16,234 samples by the eight zonal laboratories of the DJB during the period 2017-18 to 2021-22. Out of the total samples tested, 8,933 samples (55 per cent) were found unfit for potable purposes.”
The percentage of failed water samples ranged from 49% to 63% during the audit period.
“Supplying groundwater from areas where samples were found unfit poses serious health risks to the public,” it added.
To be sure, Delhi has been progressively reliant on groundwater sources to meet its water supply demands. Of the city’s 1,000 MGD (million gallons per day) water supply, around 135 MGD comes from groundwater sources like tubewells.
The CAG audit also flagged the practice of mixing treated and untreated water.
“During test check of records and information furnished by the DJB projects division and laboratories, it was found that 80 MGD to 90 MGD raw water from borewells/ranney wells was supplied to UGRs/consumers directly without treatment by DJB during 2017-18 to 2021-22, thus compromising water quality which could be hazardous to the health of the people,” it added.
Additionally, the CAG report flagged shortages of staff and equipment at the DJB testing labs, adding that water was not being tested as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms. Against 43 parameters, “DJB was testing only 12 parameters during the water treatment process,” it noted.
As a result, for instance, there was a shortfall up to 69% at the Dwarka WTP and 62% at the Sonia Vihar WTP in testing of required parameters at all stages of the water treatment process.
The audit report also notes even though DJB draws raw water from borewells, this water was only tested on four of 46 parameters. Critical parameters like “toxic substances” “radioactive substances”, “biological tests”, and “virological tests” were not conducted. Tests for the presence of heavy metals like arsenic, copper, lead, etc. in the water were also not conducted by DJB.
“The presence of radioactive substances and heavy metals in drinking water can be fatal as these substances may cause damage to the liver, kidney, and intestine, and also cause anemia and cancer in humans,” the report added.
CAG also flagged the continued use of banned polyelectrolytes at Haiderpur plant. In a DJB memorandum issued in May 2016, it banned the use of polyelectrolytes at all WTPs and recycling plants due to their carcinogenic properties.
“Audit observed that the private operator of recycling plant at Haiderpur WTPs was using polyelectrolytes in the treatment process since 2017-18 despite it being prohibited by the Testing and Quality Control Department of DJB,” the report said.
CAG report has also noted the increase in the failure rate of the number of water supply samples internally tested by DJB’s labs. During the period 2018-19 to 2021-22, cases of samples failing in “physical quality tests: out of the total sample collected more than doubled and increased from 0.81% to 1.74% of the total samples collected. Similarly, samples that failed “chemical quality tests” also doubled from 0.83% to 1.76%. This shows a deteriorating trend in the quality of water being supplied to residents of Delhi by DJB, it noted.
The CAG also flagged an increase in water transmission loss from reservoirs. During the 2017-22 period, the transmission loss of water distributed from Under Ground Reservoirs (UGRs)/Service Reservoirs (SRs) increased from 16% to 21%.
“The situation was further aggravated by inequitable supply of potable water at zonal level. The per capita availability of potable water was less than 20 GPCD in four zones and less than 40 gallon per capita per day (GPCD) in eight zones against the requirement of 60 GPCD,” it added.
Delhi also faces a massive problem of water loss and theft.
“Non-Revenue Water (NRW) ranged between 51 and 53% of the average quantity of the water supplied per day during 2017-22, except for 2019-20,” the report stated.
CAG has estimated the amount of revenue not realised by DJB during the said period on account of NRW was over Rs 4,988 crore.
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