Delhi Jal Board writes to Manohar Lal Khattar over high ammonia levels in Yamuna, short supply of raw water

New Delhi: Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman Raghav Chadha on Wednesday wrote to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, seeking his intervention to address the issue of "short supply of raw water" to Delhi and high levels of pollutants in it.

Chadha said high ammonia concentration in Yamuna water results in a "partial or complete" shutdown of two water treatment plants — Chandrawal and Wazirabad — which supply around 228 million gallons of drinking water to the people of Delhi.

Industrial waste discharged into the drains in Haryana reaches Wazirabad barrage and pollutes the Yamuna downstream, he said in a letter to Khattar.

"Ammonia levels rose to 8.4 parts per million on Wednesday. Along with it, a short supply of raw water has caused a major impact on the drinking water supply in Delhi. The production capacity at the two WTPs has reduced by an alarming 40 percent due to the combination of these two factors," he said.

It is affecting "22 million people in Delhi and their right to clean drinking water", Chadha said.

Amid the raging pandemic, the negligence on the part of the officers of the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department borders on recklessness, he said.