Delhi water crisis: Supreme Court orders Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of water to quench Delhi’s thirst

Sub: Geography

Sec: Geomorphology

Context:

The Supreme Court ordered the release of 137 cusecs of surplus water from upstream Himachal Pradesh through the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana into the Wazirabad barrage to quench Delhi’s drinking water crisis.

Delhi’s Water Sources:

Delhi sources most of its water from the Yamuna, Ravi-Beas, and Ganga rivers.
- From the Ganga via the Upper Ganga Canal in UP, Delhi receives 470 cusecs of water.
- Two channels from Haryana, the Carrier Lined Channel (CLC) and the Delhi Sub Branch (DSB), supply water from the Yamuna and Ravi-Beas rivers, providing a total of roughly 565 MGD.
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) also draws water directly from the Yamuna and supplements its supply with around 135 MGD from groundwater.

Causes of the Water Shortage:

The water treatment plant (WTP) in Wazirabad operated below capacity from May 12 to 14 and again from May 18 to June 1.
This coincided with record-high temperatures and a surge in water demand.
The Wazirabad WTP, with a capacity of 131 MGD, is the third largest of DJB’s nine WTPs and primarily depends on water from the CLC and DSB.
Issues arose from the plant’s dependency on the Yamuna at the Wazirabad reservoir.

Water Allocation to Delhi:

A 1994 water-sharing agreement on the ‘surface flow’ of the Yamuna among Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi specifies that Delhi is to receive 0.076 billion cubic metres of water from March to June, with an annual allocation of 0.724 BCM (roughly 435 MGD).
This allocation is regulated by the Upper Yamuna River Board, and the agreement is due for revision in 2025.
In 1996, the Supreme Court directed that Delhi should continue to receive adequate water from Haryana to fill the Wazirabad and Hyderpur reservoirs to capacity.

Upper Yamuna River Board:

A subordinate office under the Department of Water Resources, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
A memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Utter Pradesh, Rajasthan and the National Capital Territory of Delhi on 12th May 1994 regarding the allocation of utilizable surface flow of River Yamuna up to Okhla Barrage among the co-basin States.
The MoU provides for the creation of a board called the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB).

Dams and Barrages on Yamuna river:

Source: IE