New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has come down strongly on the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in a recent report, stating that water shortages in the city are increasing and plans the government had made to avert this situation have not come to fruition. The DJB also failed to ensure adequate water quality testing and sewage treatment, the report notes.More than half of the groundwater samples tested in the city between 2017-18 and 2021-22, the CAG has said, were unfit for drinking and posed a “serious risk” to the public.Titled ‘Functioning of Delhi Jal Board’, the report was tabled in the Delhi assembly on March 23. It says that out of the total of 16,234 groundwater samples tested by the eight zonal laboratories of the DJB during the period 2017-18 to 2021-22, 8,933 samples, or 55%, were found unfit for potable purposes – or sub-standard for drinking.The key issues that have led to this, according to the CAG, were a lack of a water policy, regulatory gaps, weak infrastructure, ineffective treatment facilities and a shortage of staff. Combined, these hint at an overall shortcoming on part of the water supplier, resulting in a health and environmental crisis.One of the issues flagged by the CAG report is the widening shortage of water in the city. The report notes:“For Delhi’s projected population of approximately 28 million by March 2041, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) assessed requirement of 1680 million gallons per day (MGD) of water. The shortage in availability of raw water against the assessed requirement increased from 22 per cent (2017-18) to 24 per cent (2021-22) whereas the shortage in potable water against the assessed requirement increased from 24.2 per cent to 25.79 per cent. Main reason for the gap between demand and supply of water was inadequacy of raw water sources, its treatment capacity and failure to augment its supply.” [emphasis added]Delhi’s groundwater is critically depleted, with estimates by the Central Ground Water Board suggesting an extraction rate of a shocking 119.61% in 2017, 98.16% in 2022 and an improvement to 92.10% in 2025.However, the CAG report raises concern that out of the 776 water samples collected from 38 water bodies by the DJB’s labs in 2022, only 172 samples – 21% – were found fit for the recharging of groundwater.The rest was contaminated water, thus undermining the objective of rejuvenating water bodies.Governance failureAccording to the report, there was no authority under the Delhi government or the DJB having the power to effectively regulate, control and develop groundwater resources. This is because the Delhi Water Board (Amendment) Bill, 2011, meant to enhance the DJB’s powers, has not been enacted in more than 14 years since it was prepared.The lack of clear authority means that there is no one accountable for the development of groundwater resources.The audit report has also found that the testing of Delhi’s water is not being done as per the norms set by the Bureau of Indian Standards. There was continued use of carcinogenic polyelectrolytes – chemicals used in water treatment – at private-run water treatment plants and recycling plants despite a 2016 memorandum banning their usage.Further, the DJB lacks sufficient staff and equipment in their testing labs, while also lacking enough testing labs, making round-the-clock basic process control a challenge, the CAG report states.Speaking to The Wire, Surjyatapa Ray Choudhury, associate manager (policy) at the Jana Urban Space Foundation, explains: “There is a fundamental gap that Delhi and many other big cities in India are facing. Nearly 30-40% of the posts in government agencies like the DJB are lying vacant. As a result, they face challenges. They have to pick and choose and prioritise on that basis. Enforcement becomes a challenge because of the vacancies in government agencies like the DJB.”The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, which provided technical guidance and support to DJB, had also made recommendations regarding the strengthening of water testing labs in December 2018, despite which the shortage of personnel persisted, the CAG report notes.Yamuna crisisDelhi has two major sources of raw water – groundwater and the Yamuna river in the eastern part of the city. The latter is seldom usable for potable purposes due to the extreme pollution, high ammonia levels and low water levels during dry seasons. Given this, the DJB’s treatment capacity and failure to augment its supply creates a critical situation.The city has been increasingly reliant on groundwater sources to meet its assessed requirement of 1,680 million gallons per day (MGD) of water.The CAG warned that unless the DJB arrives at realistic figures of the sewage generated in Delhi, an effective treatment plan to reduce the pollution load on the Yamuna, where most of the sewage is discharged, would remain elusive.The report has also cited “anomalies” in the estimation of sewage generated in Delhi and says that the DJB underestimated the capital’s overall sewage generation by nearly 20%.Per a March 2022 report by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) cited by the CAG, the total water flow into the Yamuna in Delhi stood at 892.22 MGD. This included water from untapped drains, sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment plants, as well as 155 MGD of sewage received from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.Meanwhile, by the DJB’s estimates, 594.25 MGD of sewage generated in Delhi ends up in the Yamuna. This, the report noted, showed a clear gap of 142.97 MGD – 20% – in the sewage/waste-water generation estimates.Simultaneously, the report also pointed to a lack of sewage treatment plants in Delhi. Between 2017-2022, none of the 56 new sewage treatment plants proposed to be built during Phase-II of the DJB’s Sewage Master Plan materialised.The treated effluent released by 25 STPs into Yamuna also did not meet the norms prescribed by DPCC and there was also no mechanism in place at the agency to monitor faecal coliform bacteria levels in the treated effluent. The DJB’s labs were monitoring dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids, but not the faecal coliform, the CAG states.This is important because faecal coliform adds to the pollution levels in the Yamuna.In its reply to the CAG in December 2023, the DJB stated that monitoring of faecal coliform levels was being done at the Okhla, Yamuna Vihar and Keshopur sewage treatment plants, while it was “in process” in the rest of the plants.However, a January 2026 assessment by the DPCC revealed that faecal coliform levels in the Yamuna were as high as 350,000 most probable number (MPN) per 100 millilitres at Asgarpur – one of the eight monitoring locations.The prescribed limit is 2,500, while the desirable level is under 500.Palla was the only site that remained near the permissible range, recording about 2,700 MPN per 100 ml. The other locations include Wazirabad, ISBT Bridge, ITO Bridge, Nizamuddin Bridge, Hindon Cut and Okhla Barrage.According to Prabhas Gupta, associate vice president (urban, infrastructure and tourism) at IPE Global, the crisis of water quality in the Yamuna is “a symptom, not the problem itself”.“The crisis is a result of several factors such as the diversion of upstream flows for irrigation and other uses, which has steadily reduced natural flows in the river; inflow of untreated sewage into the river; flow of partly treated sewage from STPs, which may not meet effluent standards; absence of strong monitoring mechanisms etc,” he says.“Improving water quality in the Yamuna requires long-term actions on multiple fronts – ensuring 100% coverage of wastewater and faecal sludge collection, containment, treatment to stringent standards; safe disposal and/or reuse of wastewater and sludge generated by Delhi,” he added.In its reply to the audit, the DJB admitted to the high level of untreated sewage and outlined various efforts it had made to trap this and construct new treatment plants. However, the CAG says “no documents were provided in support of the assertions”.Further, the water agency, which had outstanding loans worth Rs 66,595 crore as of March 2022, said that it is “a non-profit organisation with the main objective of supplying water to more than 26 lakh consumers of Delhi”.Since its income from the water supply is not enough to repay the loan, it had requested the government to convert the loans into grants. “The decision is still pending with the Delhi government,” it said.The auditor rejected this, saying the agency did not make efforts to periodically revise the water/sewage charges, or for the recovery of dues pending from consumers.Need of the hour“Currently, the monitoring system is in a vacuum.” Due to the “sheer population of Delhi, water pollution becomes a major issue and to fix this, enforcement is essential,” says Ray Choudhury.For the Yamuna, she notes, “We can’t keep waiting. So, we need some immediate stop-gap solutions.”The CAG suggests a number of measures for better governance of the DJB. These include a water policy aligned with population growth; installation of calibrated flow meters and regular water audits; strengthening water quality testing labs; scheduled maintenance and upgradation of essential infrastructure, including GPS trackers on water tankers; recovery of outstanding dues; and immediate action on staff shortages in the DJB.