Haryana hits back as Delhi Jal Board says state releasing dirty water

Calling Mohaniya’s statement false, Amit Arya, media advisor to the Haryana Chief Minister, said it was an attempt to malign the state’s image. Arya also said that similar allegations made earlier by DJB were found baseless by CPCB.

High ammonia content can stall functioning of water treatment plants as they are unable to treat water with more than 0.7 ppm ammonia. Increased presence of ammonia in water is a recurrent issue between the two states, especially between January and March as the amount of water flowing in the river is much lower than the ecological flow that is required.

As per several reports and experts, a large load of pollutants is added to the river from the Panipat Industrial Area.

Officials said two water treatment plants — Chandrawal and Wazirabad — were able to produce half the amount of treated water that they produce because of pollutants. The decrease was around 100 million gallons daily. DJB supplies 940 MGD of water as opposed to a demand of around 1,200 MGD.

Mohaniya said, “The level of ammonia steadily increased from 1.2 ppm on January 8, to 1.8 ppm on January 9, to 2.7 ppm on January 10. Due to this, DJB was able to produce 100 MGD less compared to normal production.”

“The BJP often accuses the Delhi Jal Board of supplying dirty water in the city. I want to tell everyone that the water being supplied in Delhi comes from the BJP-ruled states,” he added.

In November, controversy over Delhi’s water quality broke out with a Bureau of Indian Standards report saying that all 11 water samples from different locations in Delhi — including that from Krishi Bhawan and the house of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan — did not pass its tests. The Delhi government responded with its own survey of over 4,000 samples, wherein it said more than 98% had passed.

On the survey, Mohaniya said: “The reason for this suspicion is that on one hand, Paswan accused DJB of supplying dirty water, and on the other hand contaminated water is supplied from BJP-ruled Haryana.”