Delhi Jal Board under fire as CAG finds 55% groundwater unfit for consumption

By A Representative 

A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India audit report tabled in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on 7 January 2026 has revealed alarming lapses in the quality and safety of drinking water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), raising serious public health concerns for residents of the capital. 

The audit found that more than half of the groundwater samples tested during the review period were unfit for consumption. Out of 16,234 samples, 8,933—or 55 percent—failed to meet potable water standards, with the proportion of failed samples fluctuating between 49 and 63 percent across different years.  

The report underscored a 25 percent shortfall against the city’s estimated water requirement of 1,680 million units and highlighted that water quality testing was grossly inadequate due to shortages of staff and equipment in DJB laboratories. Testing was not conducted in line with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms, leaving the quality of much of the supplied water unknown. 

The CAG warned that supplying groundwater from areas where samples were found unfit poses grave health risks to consumers.  

Equally troubling was the revelation that 80–90 million gallons per day of raw, untreated water from borewells and ranney wells was supplied directly to reservoirs and, in some cases, to consumers over the five-year audit period. The absence of flow meters at treatment plants, reservoirs, and borewells further compromised monitoring, leaving authorities unable to measure the quality or quantity of water being treated or supplied.  

Laboratories were found to be testing samples against only 12 parameters, far short of the 43 mandated under BIS standards (IS 10500:2012). Critical checks for toxic substances, radioactive elements, biological and virological parameters, and heavy metals such as arsenic and lead were not carried out. The audit also noted the continued use of banned carcinogenic polyelectrolytes at privately operated water treatment and recycling plants, despite explicit prohibitions. 

The CAG cautioned that the presence of radioactive substances and heavy metals in drinking water could be fatal, leading to organ damage, anemia, and cancer, and warned that failure to conduct comprehensive testing exposes residents to severe long-term health consequences.  

In response, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan India (JSAI) has demanded immediate corrective action. Mitra Ranjan and Ritu Priya of JSAI called upon the Delhi Government, DJB, and regulatory authorities to halt the supply of untreated groundwater, ensure full compliance with BIS standards, upgrade and adequately staff testing laboratories, and conduct comprehensive testing for all health-critical parameters every 15 days. 

They also urged authorities to place all water quality data in the public domain for transparency and fix accountability for prolonged neglect of public health safeguards. JSAI emphasized that access to safe drinking water is a fundamental right and warned that continued institutional failure to ensure this amounts to a serious violation of public trust and responsibility.