NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) plans to collaborate with the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), a non-profit organisation under the Odisha government, to tackle the issue of significant water loss during transmission in Delhi. Currently, around 58 per cent of the city’s water is wasted during transmission, a figure much higher than the national average of approximately 20 per cent.
WATCO has successfully addressed a similar issue in Odisha, reducing water loss from 50 per cent to 15 per cent, according to the officials. DJB refers to this lost water as “non-revenue water” (NRW) or “unaccounted water,” which refers to the water produced and supplied from treatment plants but not reaching consumers.
WATCO, which manages water supply and sewerage systems for urban local bodies in Odisha, including cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Puri, will work with DJB to explore the possibility of providing 24/7 drinking water directly from taps in Delhi, similar to what has been achieved in Puri.
In September 2023, DJB officials visited Bhubaneswar and Puri to review WATCO’s water management project, including its real-time digital water management system. A team from WATCO has also visited Delhi to assess the situation and understand the scope of work.