On Tuesday Water Minister and Chairman DJB Satyendar Jain visited the multiple installations of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) at Sonia Vihar. The Delhi Government has constructed 30 ‘Modern Extraction Wells’ which can provide 6-8 times more water than ordinary wells.

Extraction wells are ones from which water is extracted and supplied to water treatment plants, where this water is purified and then delivered to Delhiites.

The modern wells constructed by the Delhi Jal Board are designed in such a way that water gets purified within the well and does not require any additional water treatment plant to treat the raw water.

The capacity of each well is to supply 1.2 to 1.6 million gallons of water per day. Each new modern extraction well has a capacity to supply 7-8 times more water than the conventional wells.

The total supply of water will be increased by 25-30%. This will resolve the problem of drinking water in East Delhi areas.

Referring to these modern wells, Jain said, “The Delhi Government has designed and constructed 30 modern extraction wells in the premises of Sonia Vihar Water Treatment Plant. These wells were constructed as part of a pilot project to determine whether the use of modern technology can result in more water augmentation or not. This pilot project was 100 percent successful and the Delhi Government will now build 70 more such wells in the same premises spread over 150 acres.”

He further said, “Each well has a capacity of supplying 1.2 to 1.6 million gallons of water per day, which is 6-8 times that of a typical conventional well.”

‘Modern Extraction Wells’ are those wells from where the water is extracted, cleaned and then supplied to people’s homes. These modern wells constructed by the Delhi Jal board are designed in such a way that water gets purified within the well. This will save the cost of setting up a new treatment plant and water can be directly pumped out and supplied.

With the construction of this modern well, the total supply of water will increase by 25-30%. The system of these new wells is designed in such a way that it will automatically replenish the groundwater during the rainy season, so the extraction of water from the well will not have much effect on the groundwater levels.

Ordinary wells have a diameter of 0.3 meter while these new wells have a diameter of 1-1.5 meters and a depth of 30 meters.