Delhi govt plans 459-acre reservoir upstream of Wazirabad barrage to store floodwater

Delhi government will create a 459-acre reservoir in the Yamuna floodplains upstream of the Wazirabad barrage and a 20-acre off-river mini reservoir to store floodwater during the monsoon season which can be used to augment water supply in the national capital, an official statement said on Friday.

If the project yields desired results, 20 reservoirs of 200 acres each and 20 off-river mini reservoirs of 100 acres each will be created in the river floodplains upstream of the Wazirabad barrage, it said.

The 459-acre reservoir will be created at the upper end of the Wazirabad pond on the western bank of the river. It will store up to 1,735 million gallons of floodwater.

The 20-acre and 10-metre deep off-river mini reservoir will store 223 million gallons of floodwater.

“Our plan is to store the floodwater during the monsoon season in reservoirs (upstream of Wazirabad Barrage) and purify it for the people of Delhi. Once this strategy is successful, more such reservoirs will be built to divert excess water from the Yamuna for water supply in Delhi,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said after chairing a high-level meeting to discuss plans to augment water supply.

“The Delhi government is committed to providing clean drinking water to all Delhiites 24x7. Two proposals were discussed in today's meeting. The officials concerned have been directed to start work on the pilot projects soon,” he said.

“Three strategic approaches are proposed for storage of about 32,203 million gallons of floodwater. First, 20 reservoirs of 200 acres each will be created. These will have a storage capacity of 8,552 MG,'' the statement read.

''Second, 1,000 acres of expanded pondage area of Wazirabad reservoir with 2 m depth will store 2,138 MG. Third, 20 off-river mini reservoirs of 100 acres each with 10 m depth will store 21,381 MG, besides generating 400 MW solar power,” it said.

All reservoirs will be developed upstream of the Wazirabad Barrage extending up to Palla. It will have minimal or no adverse impact on the river ecology and surrounding human settlements. However, the off-river mini reservoirs will be developed outside the marginal bund, it said.

A government official said the project involving creation of reservoirs is an extended version of the Palla project of the Delhi government which started in 2019 and was completed last year.

The project involved retaining excess Yamuna water in shallow reservoirs on the floodplains during the monsoon season at Palla on the northern outskirts of the capital near the Delhi-Haryana border.

According to officials, the project recorded the highest rise of up to 2.5 metres in the groundwater level in its third and final year on the back of a record-breaking rainfall in the monsoon season last year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)