On one hand, residents of suburbs are grappling with the water cut problem on the other hand there is excessive usage of water in the city.
Even though the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has announced a 20 per cent water cut for households and 50 per cent cut for commercial establishments but citizens have already started complaining about the disparity in water cut in suburbs and south Mumbai. On one hand, residents of suburbs are grappling with the water cut problem on the other hand there is excessive usage of water in the city. The civic body might have gone ahead with the water cut but they have failed to address the water leakage problem happening in the slums.
Citizens have been saying that there should be a mechanism to avert the water leakage issue which is responsible for scarcity of water. In some areas of the city, water supply has not been curtailed for swimming pools as people are wasting water. At some places even water is being used excessively in gardens and playgrounds. Inadequate rainfall has forced the BMC to impose water cut in the city. As if this is not enough the civic body is planning to impose another 10 per cent water cut in the metropolis in addition to the existing 20 per cent cut. The BMC always takes a decision about water cut in October but this time around the civic body had to advance the decision by a month. The water cut is likely to be in effect for the rest of the year.
When AV spoke to former NCP corporator Bhaskar Khursange he said, “BMC should curtail water supply to the carbonated soft drink manufacturing companies. They purchase 1,000 thousand litres of water for Rs.10/- and we buy half a litre for Rs.10. If this step is taken they we can reduce water shortage to some extent.”
Congress legislator, Aslam Sheikh said, “They should plug the water leaks occurring in the slums and residential building which will enable us to save more water.”
Congress legislator, Baba Siddique said, “The onus lies on the BMC to increase the water supply. They should legitimize the concept of “Cloud Seeding” and every time there is a problem of water shortage they should implement it.”
NCP spokesperson, Nawab Malik said, “There is a 30 per cent of water shortage because of the leaks in the taps. The civic body should repair all of them and citizens should be more vigilant now and learn to save water.”
Currently, the city’s water stock (9.91 lakh million litres) will last another 265 days. However, this is 30 per cent lower than what the city needs till the next monsoon. The water crisis has been mainly caused by poor rainfall in the catchment areas of the seven lakes that supply water to the city.
Vishno Punjabi, a Peddar Road resident said, “As a member of the NSCI club in Worli, I am glad to inform you that our club is only supplying 50 per cent water to the swimming pool and members have been co-operative”.
Adil Chandilwal, a netizen said, “There is a 10 per cent cut in my building. People should save water and not let the taps running even for a few seconds when they are not using them.”
Subhir Rajan Mavunkal said, “Water cut has been imposed in entire Mumbai. I stay at Borivali (E). But so far our society is concerned the effect of cut is not that discernible. We have an underground tank where the water is collected for two hours and then pumped on to the overhead tanks.”
“There are overhead water tanks build in the building or even a sintex tank is installed, we hardly get enough water in the areas of Harbour Line, after this 20% – 25% water cut was imposed” said Pravin Kirnahake a resident of Railway Colony, Sion
“I have two school going children. I have to go late to the office so I can fill up the water in buckets and other utensils to store it. The BMC has no control over the usage of water in up market areas that use drinking water for washing cars or watering plants” said Meena Mistry a Dahisar resident.
“Fights for water occur regularly in slums. I don’t have water connection but a single connection, which is shared with four to five families. When I thought about availing a separate connection I was told that legal water connection would be done in Rs. 6000 – 7000, but the plumbers extort extra amount from us which is as high as Rs. 20,000” said Vipul Gawkar a slum resident.
“Water arrives at my home in afternoon or evening hours. Since I live on rental basis hence it becomes difficult for me to fill the water as nobody is there to perform this task. I have to rely on the filtered water drums” said Tavleen Oberoi from Juhu
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has demanded that the state government stop water supply to swimming pools, shopping malls, water parks and industries in Mumbai.
NCP’s Mumbai president Sachin Ahir said the party demands that water supply to swimming pools, shopping malls, water park and industries be stopped in the city. Ahir, a former Maharashtra minister also said that in the absence of sufficient rains in the island city this year, his party will hold an awareness campaign in Mumbai in the coming days and appeal to citizens to not waste water.
“There is a crisis of water this year and all of us need to come together to tackle the scarcity of water,” he said.
The NCP leader said that in several places here, people use water to wash their cars. “Hundreds of litres of water flows through flush in latrines in houses. Washing machines too use large quantities of water while watering gardens is also a wastage of water. To ensure that Mumbaikars stop wastage of water, we will reach out to the people by holding an awareness campaign,” he added.
A senior civic official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Looking at the situation, we have to impose a water cut to sustain till next year. We will seek permission from the standing committee of the civic body next week.”
The Maharashtra government has already taken a decision of reserving water in reservoirs for drinking purposes only across the state. None of the dams that provides water to metropolis has overflowed this year.
