One of Gurgaon's two main water supply plants in a crisis, has 2 days' reserve

Time of India

7 days ago

Gurgaon: The city is staring at a water crisis, as one of its two treatment plants is left with stock that would last less than two days if it isn't replenished fast enough.
Officials told TOI on Tuesday that this dip in water at the Basai treatment plant is because supply from the Gurgaon channel, one of the sources of raw water for the city, has been consistently falling short.
Water stored at the Basai plant has dropped to 598 million litres — less than half of its total capacity of 1,385 million litres.
Supply to the plant has been erratic over the past two months because of deteriorating condition of Gurgaon channel, and of late, because of repeated power failures due to thunderstorms.
There was anyway a shortfall of water supply to Basai.
GMDA, which manages the two treatment plants in the city, is supposed to get 323.4 million litres of water per day (MLD) to run Basai WTP at optimal capacity.
But the Gurgaon channel is only able to provide a maximum of 269 MLD of water to the plant.
Authority's data shows supply this month dipped below 245 MLD on several days, with the lowest recorded at 223.6 MLD on May 23.
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ith stored water in Basai depleting to an alarming low, a GMDA official admitted that any other unexpected disruption to the Yamuna canal's supply or to the Gurgaon channel will empty out the tank quickly.
"As of now, we have enough raw water for only one-and-a-half days at the Basai plant. The shortfall has affected our ability to operate the plant optimally and meet the city's potable water demand. Though there is no rationing yet, we have asked the irrigation department to ensure adequate and consistent supply. However, if the upstream supply is affected, it could have an impact," a senior GMDA official said.
Treated water from Basai WTP is supplied to most sectors between 1 and 23, Sadar Bazar, Kadipur, Khandsa, Roshanpura, Civil Lines, Palam Vihar, DLF 1-3, South City-1, Sushant Lok 1, Daultabad, Dhanwapur, among other areas.
Residents of some of the areas in the tail-end of Basai supply network said they have started noticing a fall in water pressure.
"Water pressure is low and supply has been limited for the past 20 days. Pressure dropped to 75 PSI (pound force per square inch) from 120 PSI. Additionally, MCG's tubewell isn't functioning properly, forcing us to rely on water tankers," said Prakash Lamba, president of Sector 21 RWA.
Chandu Budhera WTP
to the rescue
Recognising the gravity of the problem, GMDA officials said the authority has procured motors and is laying down a pipeline to transfer untreated water from the city's other WTP at Chandu Budhera to the Basai plant.
"The equipment is expected to be installed and operational within the next few days, which could help stabilise supply," the senior official quoted above said.
The Chandu Budhera WTP draws 318 MLD of untreated water from the NCR channel, and its supply is relatively more stable. The plant's capacity to treat water was also increased recently, scaling up its supply to the city by 60 MLD.
In total, it supplies around 360 MLD of water to sectors 4, 5, 7, 9, 37D, 42-74, 81-115, Old Gurgaon, Dayanand Colony, Gurgaon Gaon and Arjun Nagar, among other areas.
The GMDA official said that 630 MLD of potable water from both WTPs is adequate for a city of 26 lakh residents.
"The issue isn't production capacity, but wastage and misuse of potable water, especially in construction activities. We are working to resolve the shortage at Basai," he said.