Supply & demand
Delhi needs about 1,250 million gallons of water per day (MGD) to meet basic requirements.Source: Delhi Economic Survey 2025–26
Actual production is roughly 961 MGD — a structural shortfall of nearly 300 MGD.Source: DJB figures via The Tribune, 2026
Delhi’s 9 water treatment plants produce around 900 MGD; tubewells add about 135 MGD.Source: DJB, 2026
DJB’s operational tubewells rose from 5,834 to about 6,200 under the summer action plan.Source: DJB summer action plan, 2026
A second 50 MGD water treatment plant at Dwarka is being commissioned to narrow the gap.Source: Delhi CM / DJB statements, 2026
Distribution losses
52.35% of treated water is lost in distribution — for every two gallons pumped, barely one reaches a paying consumer.Source: Delhi Economic Survey 2025–26
Applying that loss rate, only around ~460 MGD of the ~961 MGD produced actually arrives at consumers.Source: KaamGenie calculation on Economic Survey figures
Groundwater & quality standards
CGWB reports describe Delhi’s groundwater contamination as driven by unhygienic catchments and untreated sewage percolating into aquifers.Source: Central Ground Water Board, via Down To Earth
Peer-reviewed sampling in South West Delhi classified local groundwater as polluted and unsafe without treatment for domestic use.Source: Environ. Monit. Assess. (50-sample SW Delhi study), 2018
In South West district, 46% of observation wells show water levels 10–20 metres below ground.Source: CGWB NCT Delhi groundwater status
BIS drinking-water limits: TDS 500 mg/L acceptable / 2,000 mg/L permissible; total hardness 200 mg/L acceptable / 600 mg/L permissible.Source: BIS IS 10500:2012
Borewell water we test across Delhi’s outer belts commonly reads 900–2,000 mg/L TDS — at or beyond the BIS permissible ceiling.Source: KaamGenie field testing, 2026 (indicative)
Inside Delhi’s tanks — field findings
Tanks on borewell supply foul roughly twice as fast as tanks on piped DJB supply; we recommend 6-month cleaning cycles in borewell belts vs 12 months on piped cores.Source: KaamGenie service records, Jan–Jun 2026
The most common contaminants found on opening a tank: settled silt, mineral scale flakes, algae film and rust particles from GI plumbing.Source: KaamGenie service observations
A large share of tanks we open have damaged, ajar or missing lids — the single most preventable contamination path.Source: KaamGenie service observations
The typical Delhi residential rooftop tank is 500–1,000 litres; shared builder-floor buildings often run one tank across 3–4 households.Source: KaamGenie service records
On the KaamGenie Tank Scale Index (0–100), the South West borewell belt scores 82 and the Lutyens/NDMC zone 31 — the hardest and gentlest storage conditions in Delhi.Source: The Delhi Water Index, Q3 2026
Season & health
Tank-contamination risk peaks in August–September, when post-monsoon runoff and recharge degrade groundwater and open storage.Source: The Delhi Water Index, Q3 2026 (seasonal curve)
Algae growth in translucent plastic tanks accelerates through May–June heat, ahead of the monsoon peak.Source: KaamGenie service observations
Delhi’s waterborne-disease season (typhoid, cholera, gastroenteritis reports) tracks the monsoon months of July–September.Source: MCD seasonal health reporting (pattern)
Cite these statistics — free to use with attribution:
Source: Delhi Water Statistics 2026, KaamGenie — https://kaamgenie.com/delhi-water-statistics
For zone-level data, charts and methodology, see the full Delhi Water Index (Q3 2026).
KaamGenie
