Delhi is on the verge of a severe water crisis with all its seven water treatment plants drying up after vandalisation by Jat protesters in Haryana forced closure of the Munak canal. The repercussions are already being felt in many parts of the national capital.
Delhi's Water Minister Kapil Mishra, while briefing media persons on Sunday, said the city government could not supply water through pipes in the evening.
"We could not supply water through pipe in north, central and west Delhi this evening as the stock of water was exhausted completely. We will provide water through tankers in these areas tomorrow (Monday) morning," said Mishra.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday morning appealed to the residents of Delhi to save water, saying they might have to depend on the stored water for one or two days at least.
He also spoke to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the need to restore water supply to Delhi at the earliest.
Kejriwal also announced that all schools in the capital would be shut on Monday.
West Delhi was the worst affected area so far and the crisis is likely to spread across the capital on Monday.
"There has been no water supply in our area since this morning (Sunday). We had stocked water yesterday (Saturday) and it would be available till tomorrow (Monday) morning. If water supply is not restored by tomorrow, then we will be in crisis," said Anil Bansal, a resident of Paschim Vihar in west Delhi.
"The moment I got to know yesterday (Saturday) that all the plants have been shut down, I told my wife to store as much water as possible. The crisis is prevalent in almost all areas around Nangloi," he said.
Shilpa Negi, a resident of R.K. Puram in south Delhi, said: "We have stored water in our house. But we may face problems from tomorrow (Monday). There has been no supply of water since this morning."
Imran, a resident of Chandni Chowk in north Delhi, said: "There was no water crisis yesterday (Saturday). But the crisis has begun today. I took water from a neighbour for household chores. I don't know how will I manage tomorrow (Monday)."
Rani Harish of Dwarka in southwest Delhi, said that though there was no crisis on Sunday, the water pressure was low. "This is an indication that there may be crisis from tomorrow," she said.
Pankaj Agarwal, a member of the Water Bottling Association, said: "As of now, there is no increase in demand for water in Delhi. But from tomorrow, there could be acute shortage of water and the demand would rise. We are ready to meet the demand."
