Delhi water crisis: Wazirabad Pond nearly depleted, AAP seeks Central assistance

New Delhi: The water level in Wazirabad Pond, a major source of Delhi’s drinking water, has nearly been depleted, intensifying the water crisis in the national capital, Water Minister Atishi announced on Saturday.

The AAP government convened an emergency meeting on Saturday to address this alarming situation.

In the meeting, Atishi stated that while water in Wazirabad Pond is almost gone, there is also a shortage in the Munak Canal.

Delhi legislators have reached out to Union Water Resources Minister C.R. Patil for assistance.

Atishi highlighted that both Wazirabad Pond and the Munak Canal are experiencing severe shortages, leading to a significant reduction in potable water production at the city’s treatment plants.

She mentioned that instead of 1,005 mgd of water production in Delhi on June 14, only 932 mgd was produced, indicating a shortage of over 70 mgd of water in the national capital.

Dozens of areas in Delhi are currently grappling with water shortage. The dwindling water supply has forced the government to dig emergency borewells and deploy tankers across the city to mitigate the crisis. Long queues and desperate residents waiting in the scorching heat for water tankers have become a common sight in the affected areas.

In a letter to C.R. Patil, AAP MLA Dilip Pandey accused the Haryana government of politicising the issue and highlighted illegal mining near Burari on the Uttar Pradesh side, which has further complicated the situation.

He mentioned that this issue involves Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and UP. Therefore, the legislators called for the Union Minister’s intervention to resolve the inter-state water disputes so that the people of Delhi could heave a sigh of relief.

Pandey expressed the hope for immediate action and requested a meeting with the Union Minister on Sunday to discuss potential solutions.

He stated that some people are “playing dirty politics” over the water shortage in Delhi.

IANS