Delhi water crisis to blow over by evening

New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) The ongoing water crisis of the capital will come to an end by this evening as the Delhi Jal Board has brought down the high level of ammonia content which forced the complete closure of water treatment plants of the board at Chandrawal and Wazirabad on Tuesday.

Areas reeling under the crisis due to water shortage are -- Greater Kailash, Defence Colony, Saket, Jungpura, Chandni Chowk, Civil Lines, Patel Nagar, South Extension and Kingsway Camp, besides, some VIP and VVIP ones.

Talking to UNI today, DJB Water Supply Member R K Garg said the ammonia content, which had earlier risen to four parts per million(ppm) in the Yamuna river -- the fountainhead for both Chandrawal and Wazirabad -- has been brought under control. The water supply would be almost normal by the evening.

Mr Garg said, ''With chlorination, the maximum we could treat the ammonia content in water was up to 0.3 ppm. We were forced to stop the treatment as high intensity chlorination of water might have had side-effects on the people using it.'' He said there is a limit to which ammonia level can be treated and four pps was something they could not handle.

The board had also requested the Haryana Pollution Board in regard to this and asked it to check the ammonia content in the water.

The entire trouble had started from Panipat where effluents containing high ammonia were released into water, Mr Garg emphasised.

Regarding Chhatt Puja beginning tomorrow, he said earlier the water, which was not being used due to the ammonia content, was released in the Yamuna river and so it is full to the brim now and there would be problems for the devotees who would be thronging its ghat to offer their prayers.

UNI