01
About the Utility
Delhi Jal Board plans and operates water supply and sewage treatment for the National Capital Territory of Delhi, from raw-water allocation through distribution to sewage collection and treatment. It serves a capital whose estimated demand exceeds production capacity, and its treatment plants are central to efforts to improve the Yamuna. The Board is also the delivery agency for external finance: JICA lists it as executing agency for Phase III of the Yamuna Action Plan, and JICA’s Delhi Water Supply Improvement Project seeks equitable, continuous distribution through network and connection upgrades. It works with the Irrigation and Flood Control Department on water bodies and answers to National Green Tribunal oversight of river pollution.
02
Water System
Delhi’s supply rests mainly on river water. Citing DJB’s action plan, the city’s master-plan studies allocate raw water from the Yamuna and BBMB, the Ganga, Ranney wells and tube wells, and recycled water, with the Yamuna and BBMB the largest source. Against production capacity of 910 MGD, demand in 2018 was estimated at 1,140 MGD. Treated water moves through 8,363 km of distribution pipelines, three-quarters of them laid since the turn of the century. Losses compound the gap: non-revenue water was put at 47%, and only 63% of connections had working meters, figures cited from a 2011 JICA study.
Raw-water allocation by source
Delhi Jal Board raw-water allocation by source, million gallons a day (MGD), 2018-19
Allocation (plan basis) for 2018-19, not measured abstraction. The four sources sum to the 910 MGD capacity in the same table.
Sources: Delhi Development Authority, Master Plan for Delhi 2041, citing the DJB Action Plan 2018-19.03
Wastewater System
Sewerage is where the system is most stretched. Master-plan figures put Delhi’s wastewater at 720 MGD, while DJB’s sewage treatment plants have 617 MGD of capacity and actually treat only 458.75 MGD. Coverage is the deeper constraint: approximately 45% of Delhi is not covered by the sewerage system. Yamuna pollution has made treatment a legal as well as an operational obligation. The National Green Tribunal directed DJB to finish setting up sewage treatment plants by 31 December 2020, with interim bioremediation and potential compensation payable by the Government of NCT of Delhi for failure.
04
Investment & Priorities
Investment centres on sewage treatment and Yamuna restoration. DJB executes Phase III of JICA’s Yamuna Action Plan, covering treatment plants with recycled water facilities at Okhla, Kondli and Rithala; its 564 MLD Okhla plant broke ground in July 2019 and, PTI reported, was declared fully functional in April 2025. In the second phase of AMRUT, Delhi held 69 approved projects worth Rs 5,588.94 crore in October 2026; these are approvals, not spending. That month the Union Home Minister launched further DJB sewerage and water projects, The Pioneer reported.
05
Sustainability & Resilience
Resilience depends on recovering water the city already uses. CPCB reports that Delhi treated and reused 405 MLD of domestic wastewater in its 2021 reporting, and records a Delhi Government target to raise the reused share of treated sewage to 60%. Recycled water features in the raw-water allocation, and the Yamuna Action Plan’s recycled water facilities tie treatment upgrades to supply. DJB and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department were reviving the city’s water bodies as of June 2019.
06
Key Challenges
- Closing the gap between production capacity and estimated demand.
- Reducing non-revenue water and extending working meters.
- Extending sewerage to the large share of Delhi outside the network.
- Delivering the Yamuna clean-up under court-ordered obligations.
- Scaling treated-wastewater reuse towards the Delhi Government’s 60% target.
