NEW DELHI: The city government has said that UNICEF and WHO have heaped praise on the city’s water treatment system. It said that Central government officials, UNICEF and WHO inspected water treatment plants in Wazirabad and Sonia Vihar where they praised the process of purifying and distributing water on such a large scale by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) as they studied the operations of these water treatment plants.
Delhi water minister Saurabh Bhardwaj explained that officials from the Central government, UNICEF, and WHO had, with approval, understood the entire process of the DJB. They wanted to understand how the DJB ensures the availability of clean water to Delhiites on such a massive scale.
The water minister elucidated that DJB sources water from the Ganges, Yamuna, and groundwater, which is then purified through various processes in DJB’s water treatment plants and distributed to households. No other city carries out the massive task of purifying and distributing water on such a large scale.
Witnessing the process of purifying and supplying water to every household in Delhi left a profound impact on all officials, and they highly applauded the efforts of the DJB, sources said. Bharadwaj also highlighted that during the meeting at Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant, the DJB officials presented information to the attending officers that the DJB delivers clean water to nearly 2.5 crore residents of Delhi in every household. It was mentioned that, based on an estimate, Delhi has a population of approximately 2.5 crore people and around 27.5 lakh households.
The government promised the people of Delhi that clean water would be delivered to every home through water tanks. The minister said that while inspecting the DJB’s operations, the officials visited its testing labs. Providing information about these labs, he stated that DJB has approximately 8 regional labs. Five of them are accredited by ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards. The labs monitor water quality to ensure that the water is safe for consumption. Rigorous testing procedures are in place because sometimes harmful substances and contaminants flow into the Yamuna River, posing health risks.