With heat in National Capital already making it unbearable to survive, temperatures reaching almost 50-degree Celsius.

Washing cars using a hose or letting water tanks overflow may soon lead to challan for excess use of water, Delhi Water Minister Atishi said Tuesday.

The minister also accused Haryana of not releasing Delhi's share of water since May 1 and said that if the issue is not resolved soon, Delhi will approach the Supreme Court.

In the first clear indication of a serious water crisis in Delhi, which is largely dependent on neighbours Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to meet its soaring water demands, Atishi appealed to the people to not waste water.

"Even today I saw that in many residential areas of South Delhi, water is flowing in the driveways outside people's houses due to washing of vehicles. My appeal to everyone is that you should not wash vehicles this way. If this public appeal does not work in the next one or two days, it is possible that we may have to impose a challan on excess usage of water. But right now we are issuing this appeal," she said at a press conference, as reported by IndianExpress.

The government has also decided to rationalise water supply in different parts of the national capital. "To address the problem of water scarcity, we have taken a slew of measures such as reducing water supply from twice a day to once a day in many areas... The areas which currently get water twice a day, will get once a day now... the water thus saved will be rationed and supplied to the water-deficient areas where supply lasts only 15 to 20 minutes a day," Atishi said.

Atishi said if the Haryana government does not resolve the issue and release the required water to the national capital, Delhi will approach the Supreme Court.

While 64 per cent of Delhi's water needs are met through Haryana, 26.5 per cent are met through Uttar Pradesh, according to the latest economic survey.

The city's water requirement is 1,290 million gallons daily (MGD), according to the survey for 2022-23.