As the water level dipped in the Yamuna River, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday appealed to Haryana to release additional water in the Yamuna on humanitarian grounds to address the shortage of water in the Capital.

Kejriwal said he also discussed the issue with Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai  Kumar  Saxena at a meeting.  Several parts in the national Capital are reeling under water shortage for the past few days.

"We should not go into the legalities... That Delhi's share is this much and Haryana is releasing this much...Delhi faces a water shortage and I appeal to the Haryana Government to release additional water in the Yamuna on humanitarian grounds," Kejriwal said  after meeting the L-G. “I had put the issue in front of the Lieutenant- Governor and requested him to also ask the Haryana Government on his part to release water in the river Yamuna so that people of Delhi can get some relief,” he said.

Delhi Jal Board Vice-Chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj also appealed to the Haryana Government to release Delhi's share of water in the Yamuna to tide over the water crisis in the Capital.

The DJB also claimed that Haryana had stopped releasing water from the Tajewala Barrage in Yamuna Nagar district which has reduced the water supply in Delhi by around 100 million gallons a day.

DJB claimed that the Yamuna runs eight feet deep in Delhi and the water level has already reduced by 7.5 feet. The drinking water problem in Delhi has aggravated over the last two days, said a DJB official.

Addressing a press conference, the DJB Vice Chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj also appealed to the Haryana government to release Delhi's share of water in the Yamuna to tide over the water crisis in the capital. “The water level in the Wazirabad Water Treatment Plant's pond has dropped to the bare minimum. As of today, the water level in the Wazirabad barrage has dropped from the normal 674.5 feet to the lowest level of the year at 667.70 feet,” said Bhardwaj.

“This indicates that the water level is approximately 8 feet below the surface. If you look at the Yamuna, you will notice that the depth of the water is only about half a foot, ranging from 6 inches to half foot,” claimed Bhardwaj.

“This indicates that water from Haryana is not being released into the Yamuna at all. At the same time, if you look at the Yamuna's water coming from Palla, you will notice that the Yamuna has completely dried up,” said Bhardwaj. “As a result, water production in Delhi has been reduced by about 100 MGD, which represents a significant portion of the city's water supply,” he said. Bhardwaj said the water production has dropped below 900 MGD.

Meanwhile, Bhardwaj also said that DJB is deploying a temporary water master machine for this purpose. “Through this machine, a cavity is created by removing the sand till a certain depth, resulting in formation of a pit where the water can be collected and the water level is high enough to be lifted by the temporary pumps.

Simultaneously, at the barrage water scattered over a 700-800 meter square, would be collected and lifted through a new special pumps installed as emergency measure,” said Bhardwaj.

The Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla water treatment plants lift water from the Wazirabad pond, clean it and supply to northeast Delhi, west Delhi, north Delhi, central Delhi, south Delhi, including Delhi Cantonment, and New Delhi Municipal Council areas. The Chandrawal, Wazirabad and Okhla WTPs have a capacity of 90 MGD, 135 MGD and 20 MGD, respectively. Delhi requires around 1,200 MGD of water, while the DJB supplies around 1,000 MGD.

Meanwhile, as per the statement released by the Lieutenant Governor office, during the weekly meeting, they further discussed the problem of water scarcity in the capital city and stressed upon a sustainable way forward in order to make the city self-sufficient in meeting its water requirements.

It was decided that a meeting of all concerned departments will be held in by the LG and CM on Tuesday, wherein the officers will be asked to present their concrete plans detailing the number of sink holes that they would put in place before 30th June, 2022 for the purpose of absorbing rain water and prevent water-logging, apart from recharging the water table.

This year, Wazirabad pond level depleted to 667.7 ft. Last year, the pond level had dropped to 667 ft prompting DJB to move to the Supreme Court seeking directions to Haryana to release additional water in Yamuna to meet the water demand of the national capital.