'Rainwater harvesting is priority'

NEW DELHI: Inadequate supply, rising contamination cases, erratic supply timings — In a city hit by severe water crises every summer, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB)''s new vanguard, Rakesh Mohan has a Herculean task ahead of him — that of providing safe and adequate potable water to thousands of parched Delhiites. Times City spoke to the CEO on his plans, priorities and perspectives.
Q.As the new CEO of DJB, what will be your immediate focus on?
A. My first priority will be to ensure that the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant becomes functional. It is ready and I will see to it that all the work including the flushing of systems is complete soon. Further, the completion of the tunnel at the Tehri dam will make it fully functional. My next priority will be to install rainwater harvesting catchments at all the sewage and water treatment plants in the city. These plants have tremendous potential and the harvested water will be used to supply water to our employees working there. Also, there is a lot of wastage happening at the treatment plants. I have formed a committee comprising of engineers and lower-level workers which will try to block all the leakages there and submit a report soon.
How are you going to take it from where your predecessor has left?
My predecessor was a dynamic personality. He has done a lot for the organisation. Of late, there have been some misapprehensions, regarding privatisation. Let me assure that there is not going to be any privatisation in the DJB. However, we are trying to improve our performance. On the tariff front, we will increase it only to make the mechanism more effective.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit announced a pilot project wherein some areas of south Delhi would receive water 24X7. What is the status on that?
I have asked the concerned officials to prepare a database of the areas to be covered under this scheme. Since it is a pilot project, an intensive study has to be conducted before going ahead with any implementation. It should be ready by mid-September this year.
This year, Delhiites have had a summer of discontent, as far as water supply was concerned. Is the summer of 2005 going to be any better?
Almost 40% of the city''s water supply gets lost in distribution. Therefore, our focus will be on plugging leakages in the distribution network. Also, since the Sonia Vihar plant will be functional well before next summer, the demand-supply gap should definitely get reduced. I personally feel that next summer will be a better one.