New Delhi, May 27 -- Around 5km upstream of the Wazirabad barrage, the Yamuna has mostly dried up. The 500m channel has been reduced to small rivulets, with a few feet of water - only knee-high in some places - flowing between exposed sand beds. This has major implications for parts of the Capital, with residents of the tail end of the Delhi Jal Board's (DJB) network already reporting a disruption in water supply. "The water level has been consistently going down over the last 7-10 days. Even kids can now cross over to the other side," said Vikas Chaudhary, 31, a resident of the nearby Jagatpur village. Downstream, near the Wazirabad barrage, two excavators can now be seen digging up the river bed so that the water can be directed towards the uptake point for the water treatment plants (WTPs). The barrage is the primary point from where water is drawn for the two largest plants in the city - Wazirabad and Chandrawal. The inspection point at the barrage, from where water levels are measured, is running dry till its base. According to DJB officials, the water level in Yamuna has fallen to less than 669.5 ft against the normal level of 674.5ft (above sea level) - around five feet below the desired level. "If the water in the river goes further down, we might have to deploy pumps with boats to draw water to the treatment plants," said a DJB official on condition of anonymity. "To reduce the impact on the catchment areas of the two impacted plants, we are also diverting the water from Munak canal and Haiderpur through twin lines to Wazirabad," the official said. If the level goes down further from that, the plant may even have to be shut. DJB currently operates nine water treatment plants across Delhi, which, along with groundwater resources, supply around 1000 million gallons per day (mgd) of water to the city. The water demand of the city, however, is estimated to be around 1,250mgd (based on the "50 gallon per capita per day" formula)-indicating a 250mgd gap at all times. Already a water stressed city, this gap further widens during the peak summer period of May end and first half of June. Of the 1000MGD, almost 20% is supplied by the two impacted plants which supply water to parts of north, central and north west Delhi areas. While Wazirabad, which supplies 110 million gallons of water to the city everyday, is now running 30-40% below its peak capacity, Chandrawal is operating at 15-20% lower capacity levels. The water supply problem, DJB officials said, is presently restricted to these two plants. However, if the crisis continues, other WTPs may be hit next as rationalisation will be carried out, a second DJB official said. Characterised by heatwave spells with water demand going up, May and June are the driest periods for the basin states, already straining the limited water supply. With the river drying up early, this may turn out to be an unprecedentedly bad year for the Yamuna if no additional water is released from Hathnikund barrage by Haryana. Unlike previous years, the Delhi government and the DJB have not issued any advisory or official statement acknowledging the issue so far. The practice of issuing daily summer bulletins was also discontinued last year. DJB did not respond to HT's requests for comment. Responding to HT's queries, a senior government official on condition of anonymity said, "Due to a drop in the Yamuna water level at Wazirabad during peak summer, production at Chandrawal and Wazirabad WTPs has been affected and both plants are operating below optimum capacity. Further, to minimise the impact on consumers, raw water has been diverted from the Haiderpur canal system so that supply can be maintained as much as possible. Some areas may experience temporary low pressure or short supply, while other major plants including Sonia Vihar, Bhagirathi and Okhla are functioning normally." Complaints have already started coming in from areas where the water fails to reach because of low pressure. Mohit Prajapati, a resident of Rani Khera, northwest Delhi, said the area had not received any water in the last three days. "People queue up at the Karala water reservoir at 4am in the morning, we get token numbers and need to sit there for our turn. After several hours, we manage to get a tanker which is divided in the entire lane with people getting a few buckets of water for each household. The local executive and assistant engineers have stopped picking up our phones. We are being made to suffer for every drop of water."...