Arvind Kejriwal Pulls Up Officers Over Water Treatment Plant Construction

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday visited the Chandrawal Water Treatment Plant that is currently being upgraded. Water Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, DJB Vice Chairman Somnath Bharti and senior officials of Delhi Jal Board were present on the occasion. 

During the review, the CM found out that the progress of the project was not in line with the stipulated time frame. The Chief Minister expressed strong displeasure over this. He instructed officials to rework the schedules within 24 hours and submit a plan to complete the unit by December 2023.

The CM instructed the concerned officials to immediately scale up manpower and machinery on the site and leave no scope for any laxity. "I am an engineer myself. I understand how project sites function. We will not tolerate any sort of shortcomings from the contractor's end. There is no room for any delays at this stage," the CM said while expressing his anger at the progress.

The CM also directed the officials to include provisions for the treatment of ammonia at the plant, expressing his dissatisfaction with the present system. He tasked the officials to coordinate with the government's experts to establish a system that can meet the expected standards.

Notably, the Delhi government is working in mission mode to provide adequate water to every household in Delhi. Many projects are going on in Delhi to increase the availability of water and to provide clean water to every household. The Chief Minister is personally monitoring these projects and reviewing their progress from time to time. In this perspective, many water treatment plants are also being upgraded so that their capacity to treat water can be increased.

The Chandrawal treatment plant is also being upgraded under the plan. After the completion of the project, the capacity of this water treatment plant will be 105 MGD and this will enable around 22 lakh people in Delhi to get clean water at their homes.

The launch of the WTP will provide clean water to 22 lakh people in Delhi, in line with the goal to provide clean water to every household in the city. The WTP includes a cascade aerator for aeration, pre-settling tanks for sedimentation during the monsoon season, and an ozonation generation system for primary and/or intermediate disinfection, as well as colour and odour removal. Other treatment units include an ozone contact tank, flash mixers, flocculation and settling units, an inclined plate settler, and a rapid gravity filtration system with dual media, using sand and granular activated carbon.

The WTP also features a chlorine contact clear water reservoir, a pump house for treated water transmission, a chemical house with a chemical dosing system, and an administrative building constructed with green building materials. Additionally, an 8 MGD recycle plant and the recently constructed 182 MLD clarifiers will be integrated with the newly constructed plants. The project also involves the establishment of a Chandrawal Waterworks Management Center (CWMC), which includes hardware, SCADA software, and additional application software for water demand forecasting and planning, energy management, water loss, and pressure management.

The CWMC will cover three distribution systems of the Chandrawal Command area, with the potential for expansion to cover other WTPs of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in the future.

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