Water Cut for 48 Hours as Sector 72 Station Links

GURUGRAM: Water supply in several sectors will be hit for 48 hours from 30 September as the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority connects the existing network to the Sector 72 boosting station and shifts part of the load off the Sector 51 station.

Work is scheduled from 9am on 30 September to 9am on 2 October. During that window the master supply from the Sector 51 boosting station will be partially shut, GMDA officials said. Sectors 47 to 51, Sectors 57 to 75 and Badshahpur village are likely to feel the pinch. Residents in those areas have been advised to use water carefully from 29 September through 2 October so tanks are not dry when pressure drops.

What the link will change

The job involves connecting the supply network at Almeda Chowk to a 1,500-mm pipeline tied to the Sector 72 boosting station. Once commissioned, Sector 72 is meant to serve Sectors 58 to 74, easing peak load on Sector 51 so that station can focus on the zone it was built for. Officials said they are trying to finish commissioning before the shutdown ends so supply can restart from the new node immediately. Target commissioning date is 2 October.

The station's foundation was laid in June 2019 with a nine-month target that slipped through the pandemic and NCR construction bans. Building work finished in 2022; machinery installation then hit land delays on a 500-metre stretch between Chandu Budhera and the station. GMDA revised the alignment and laid about 650 metres of pipeline between Fazilpur Road and Sector 71. NHAI later halted work under the Dwarka Expressway after cavities were found, stalling the job for nearly two months until clearance in December last year. Testing also turned up missing links and leakages on the roughly 20-km line from the Chandu Budhera treatment plant.

Sector 72 has a design capacity of 283 million litres a day. Current demand in its catchment is about 100 MLD, with more load expected as areas beyond Sector 74 build out. For SPR societies that still buy tanker water in peak summer because Sector 51 cannot meet demand, the October link is the long-delayed fix. Commissioning-related work is largely done, officials said: the tank has been filled for testing, and dewatering and cleaning should take another day or two before operations begin.

RWAs in the affected band have a short window to top up underground and overhead tanks before 30 September. GMDA's advice to conserve from 29 September is aimed at that buffer. If commissioning slips past the shutdown window, the same sectors could see a messy restart from Sector 51 alone. That is why officials are stressing an attempt to finish the Almeda Chowk link and bring Sector 72 online before 9am on 2 October, rather than treating the 48 hours as an open-ended cut.