As the heatwave intensified over the past few days, people in the capital struggled with one of the most basic needs—water. From disruptions in water treatment plants to broken pipelines and unresponsive staff at the Delhi Jal Board, residents across several areas in the city are fuming with anger as they are forced to manage their days with 2-3 buckets of water, especially at a time when temperatures are touching 45-46 degrees Celsius.
Several parts of the capital continue to face severe water shortages as the water level at the Wazirabad barrage remains critically low. As of May 27, officials said the water level stood at around 669.5 feet against the normal level of 674.5 feet.
In Old Delhi’s Matia Mahal constituency, the arrival of water tankers offers partial relief to the citizens. The neighbourhood’s narrow lanes prevent the vehicles from reaching many homes, forcing residents to carry the water themselves.
“My area is half a kilometre away,” said resident Mohammad Asif. “How far can I carry two buckets? By the time I get home, half the water is gone.”
Almost a similar crisis is visible in southwest Delhi’s Mahavir Enclave, though the residents there face a different set of challenges in accessing water.
There, residents claim that they are spending Rs 1,000-1,500 on private tanker deliveries because regular supply has remained erratic for days. Some residents speak of having to purchase drinking water cans every day, while others complain that government tankers either fail to arrive when requested or go unanswered when called.
As temperatures soar and water demand spikes across Delhi, residents are once again grappling with the annual summer water crisis. Yet conversations in these two neighbourhoods reveal that while water scarcity is a shared reality, the challenges of coping with it vary sharply.
In some areas, residents spend hours hauling water through cramped, congested lanes. In others, families are forced to spend thousands of rupees each month on private water supplies. Even when water does arrive, many complain that it is dirty, foul-smelling or unfit for consumption. The struggle is not merely obtaining water but securing water that is safe to use. Official audits, interestingly, suggest that the disparity is real.
A March 2026 audit of the Delhi Jal Board by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) highlighted stark inequalities in potable water supply across Delhi. While the benchmark is 60 gallons per capita per day, four zones received less than 20 gallons and eight received less than 40.
These disparities are not just numbers but a daily reality for many citizens shaped by long waits, mounting costs and unreliable access to safe water.
Where water must be carried
Located just behind Old Delhi’s iconic Delight Cinemas, Matia Mahal measures water not in litres but in distance. Access to water depends on geography and on supply.
Qasim, a resident of the area, said water tankers do arrive, but reaching the water remains a challenge. The locality’s centuries-old lanes are too narrow for large vehicles, limiting how far tankers can enter. As a result, residents must collect water from the main road where the tankers can stop and then carry heavy buckets through a maze of congested lanes, steep staircases and tightly packed homes.
“It’s scorching hot—45 degrees Celsius. How many times can we go back and forth carrying water?” he said.
One of the residents in Kolian Gali points out the two buckets in which they have stored water for the day. He showed a borewell connection that comes from their neighbour’s house. Such connections are mostly illegally done in the city, as one needs to take official permission from the government to do it. This rule exists because of the depleting groundwater levels, but when people are left with no choice to get access to basic needs, solutions like these become a saviour.
“We have not received water supply for almost two months now, this borewell pipe is the only thing that helps us but that too is irregular on days,” says Farhad.
Others argued that existing pumping and distribution systems are inadequate for the number of people now dependent on them. Even if every technical claim made by residents is accurate, the perception is widespread: the city’s water infrastructure has not expanded at the same pace as its population. “There are about 70-80 pipelines here,” he said. “Most of them are damaged, and despite several complaints, no staff from the Jal Board has ever stepped here for any inspection.”
The consequences are visible across Matia Mahal. Plastic drums, buckets and storage containers occupy rooftops, balconies and corridors. Water is stored whenever it is available because there is no certainty about the next supply.
The hidden cost of scarcity
Besides the physical burden, water shortages are also creating new household expenses. Residents repeatedly described buying drinking water despite already paying for municipal services.
“Today, we are getting water bottles worth `70 in the black market,” one resident alleged. Another resident said a 15-litre drinking water can costs around ` 60.
The purchases may appear small in isolation, but for low-income households, the costs quickly accumulate.
A resident, who lives with six family members, said the household manages on just a single can of purchased water each day. “We don’t bathe,” he said.
Across the neighbourhood, residents described constantly rationing water — not just for drinking, but also for bathing, washing clothes, cleaning utensils and other basic daily needs.
The burden becomes especially visible during festivals and family gatherings. “If I don’t get water for my guests, I won’t have a bigger misfortune than this,” Asif said. Water shortages here shape social life too.
Scarcity and rising expenses are only one part of the problem. The quality of the water available is another problem. Across Matia Mahal, residents complained about dirty water. “Sometimes, when the water comes in the morning, it is dirty,” she said.
Several kilometres away in Mahavir Enclave, residents had similar concerns when it comes to water. “The water comes at around 6 pm, and it smells like a drain,” says Uma Devi, a resident of Gali No. 4, one of the worst-hit lanes in that area.
Alka Verma, who has been living in that area for almost 15 years now, said, “We have children at home, and for the last few days my elder one has been complaining of stomach aches,” she alleged.
Others reported skin irritation after bathing. “We take a bath in this water and then our bodies start itching,” says 65-year-old Krishna Devi.
The CAG audit also noted deficiencies in water quality monitoring and found that tests were not being conducted in accordance with Bureau of Indian Standards norms. Additionally, the concerns also emerge against the backdrop of Delhi Jal Board’s own surveillance efforts.
Between April 16 and April 30 this year, DJB tested more than 24,000 water samples across the national capital, including household samples and complaint-linked samples. Yet publicly available summaries do not reveal how many of those samples failed quality standards, something that holds way more weightage than the mere number of samplings done.
For residents, however, the distinction between quantity and quality of water is becoming increasingly blurred. Many describe being forced to choose between bad water and no water.
Buying your way through the crisis
In Mahavir Enclave, access to water increasingly depends on the purchasing power of individuals. “We just paid `1,100 for `1,000 litres,” said Babita Kumari, a resident of Mahavir Enclave.
She claimed that many, including her, are often forced to spend between `1,000 and `1,500 on private tanker deliveries.
Another resident said the family regularly buys 15-litre cans because tap water is either unavailable or considered unsafe. “It’s been a month and we are fed up with buying water,” said Guriya. “We haven’t had water for almost a month now,” she added.
Water, which is traditionally regarded as a public utility, is increasingly becoming a recurring household expense.
One resident, Mrs Ali Rizvi, posed a simple question. “If you have to buy 15 litres of water for `50 everyday, how will a family survive in this heat?”
The question points to one of the defining inequalities of the crisis. Families that can afford private tankers are able to bridge the irregular supply gaps, but families that cannot are left waiting.
In Mahavir Enclave, residents say the problem is not a lack of water alone but how it is distributed. Anil Ranjan, a resident, said Gali No. 3 and Gali No. 4 continue to face shortages because their pipelines are not connected to the area’s main water line. “Residents in Gali No. 1 and Gali No. 5 don’t face these issues, even though they live in the same locality,” he said.
His account points to gaps in local water infrastructure, where access can vary from one lane to the next. These experiences mirror wider problems in Delhi’s water system. The CAG audit found that the city’s potable water shortage rose from 24.2% of demand in 2017-18 to nearly 26% in 2021-22, while transmission losses increased from 16% to 21%, indicating that more water is being lost before it reaches consumers.
The audit also found that non-revenue
water, which basically refers to water lost through leakages, theft, unauthorised consumption and metering deficiencies, remained between 51% and 53% of water supplied to the localities.
In practical terms, more than half the water entering the system was not being properly accounted for.
Further, the audit pointed to a bigger finding. It noted that deficiencies in a major water supply improvement programme led to the withdrawal of Asian Development Bank financing worth Rs 2,243 crore for rehabilitation works linked to the Wazirabad water treatment system and its command areas.
Though these findings do not directly explain every local shortage, they do offer a broader picture of a system struggling with infrastructure gaps, distribution inefficiencies and growing demand.
For residents, those systemic failures translate into everyday burdens.
Residents in the city increasingly find themselves compensating for lapses in the system through their time, money and labour. Some spend hours waiting for tankers, while some spend thousands of rupees every month, and still the problem remains—the quality of water.
In theory, a water shortage affects everyone, but in practice, only the underprivileged bear the burden.
As another summer deepens its roots, residents across the city are concluding that while water may be a common need for all, access to it is becoming an increasingly unequal experience depending on income, infrastructure and locality.
Dirty, foul-smelling water flows from taps: Locals
For many residents, the crisis is not just about getting water, but getting water that is safe to use. In Matia Mahal and Mahavir Enclave, people complained of dirty, foul-smelling water flowing from taps.
Some described water that looked muddy, while others said it smelt like sewage. Residents also linked the poor quality to stomach ailments and skin irritation, forcing many families to spend extra money on drinking water.