Pipe repairs force BMC to cut supply even though the 7 lakes supplying water to the city are full
Even though the lakes and reservoirs are brimming, you won’t be spared that regular nuisance of water cuts. The first cut after the onset of monsoon will pester households for 39 hours starting Monday, because a water main for Kandivli and Malad areas needs immediate repair.
Loopholes: BMC officials inspect the spot on the Marine Drive stretch outside Girgaum Chowpatty where a major portion of the road caved in after an underground water pipeline burst on Saturday; (above) the incident led to an ugly traffic jam in the area.Pics/Datta Kumbhar
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Owing to pipeline burst incidents in the city, the civic body has woken up to repair bits of the old and ill-maintained pipelines that not have been replaced or revamped for years, leading to breakage.
R Bambale, BMC’s chief hydraulic engineer, said, “Urgent repair is needed on a 1,200-mm pipeline in the western suburbs because of which all the suburbs, major parts of the island city and areas of Ghatkopar and Bhandup will be affected for 39 hours. The work will take almost two days to complete.”
There have been more than four pipeline bursts since January, and after the loss of one life and the recent incident where the road at Marine Drive caved in after a burst, the repair of pipelines will be taken up vigorously, necessitating the cuts. A proposal of changing the pipelines was passed in the BMC two months ago.
Congress corporator from western suburbs Mohsin Haider said, “This has been an ongoing issue and we need to handle it. While the proposal for changing pipelines has been passed, the BMC should execute the work sooner rather than later, especially after the Govandi and Girgaum Chowpatty pipelines burst recently.”
Supply in place for a year, but no relief
As of Sunday evening, 12,48,753 million litres of water was stored in the seven lakes in the city. The amount is sufficient for the coming 357 days, since the civic body supplies 3,500 million litres of water per day
39
Number of hours the water cut will last
Areas to suffer water cut today:
>> Western suburbs
>> Most of the island city
>> Ghatkopar and Bhandup in eastern suburbsu00a0
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