SoBo immersed in water woes

Buildings, hospitals in south Mumbai rely on exorbitantly-priced tankers; water cuts to continue until monsoon, say civic officials

There will be no respite for parched houses in South Mumbai. The only promise the civic body can make good this dry season is of bestowing drier days. And the only saviour will be the monsoon, said a civic official.
Reliant on tankers For residents on Ridge Road, Malabar Hill, the time when round-the-clock water supply was a granted luxury is now a distant memory. Water supply for these residents is now contingent on tankers that charge exorbitantly.


Paani paani re! A tanker supplies water to one of the affected buildings
in Marine Drive yesterday. Pics/Shadab Khan

"Four years ago, we used to get water 24 hours. But now, we get water supply only for two or three hours. The tankers cost us Rs 800 and some also charge up to Rs 2,000, which is four times the actual cost. We have been writing to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) once in three months, but our appeals have fallen on deaf ears. They say the work is in progress and we have to wait for our turn. The water supply has been increased by 10 per cent after complaining for three years, but it is not enough," said P V Modi, a resident of Rekha building.

The building needs a minimum of two tankers everyday and sometimes even four. For residents of Sapna building, which orders five tankers everyday, the fate is no different from that of Rekha. Though many BMC engineers and officials have visited the building, a solution has not materialised yet, said a resident.

BMC unmindful
"We pay Rs 15 to Rs 18 lakh as water bills every year. The officials come to collect the bill pronto, but when it comes to addressing our problems they are conveniently amnesiac. Yesterday, we had to order eight tankers for the 50 families in the building. It is getting costly as each tanker charges Rs 600 to Rs 800," said Bharat Trivedi, manager of Purab Apartments, another building on the Ridge Road.

Veena Apartments on Ridge Road manages with three tankers for 34 families. "The BMC officials have visited our building five times in five years, but to no avail. All the buildings on Ridge Road are desiccated," said Sachin (20), assistant manager of Veena Apartments.

Residents of Agarwal House, Marine Drive, who were long used to round-the clock water supply, now have to collect water in utensils. They make it a point to fill bottles and vessels in order to deal with the shortage. "As we are a joint family, we have to be careful with the amount of water we consume. We have not washed our clothes for the past few days. We pay Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 for water tankers and yet we get turbid water from them. They are asking for more money for pure drinking water," said Mahendra Hendy (45), a resident.

Many residents in the area have resorted to buying mineral water for the purpose of consumption. Though the BMC has replaced water conduits with broader ones, the result is far from satisfactory considering the rise in water bills. The water pressure is still low, complained residents. Asked if the situation would improve, BMC officials said they would respond to the complaints as soon as possible.u00a0"The water problem is being dealt with but road permit is required to get new pipes in line. So it's taking some time. We are working on it," said Pravin Jadhav of water department, D-Ward.

BMC says
Ramesh Bamble, hydraulic engineer, BMC, said: "There has been a shortage of water in the past few years in the area because of the sprouting up of high-rises. We have undertaken the task of repairing major pipelines. This will surely increase the pressure of water flow to South Mumbai." He said the Tansa (E) and Tansa (W) and Upper Vaitarna and Vaitarna trunk water mains would be replaced from Maroshi to Ruparel with 3,000 mm tunnels. These would have intermediate shafts at Vakola and Mahim, facilitating distribution of water supply suitably. The Vaitarna main is required to be isolated for about 90-hours for this work, he said. "These works are being executed to so that more water can be supplied to places which receive less water. There will be one or two water cuts until the onset of monsoon as we cannot carry out work then," said Bamble.

The job of fitting the butterfly valve is part of the construction work on a water tunnel from Marol Maroshi to Ruparel College in Matunga. This tunnel, 60m below ground level, will replace the old mains. The Maroshi-Matunga tunnel is one of the three the BMC is constructing across the city to augment water supply. The other two are the 3.6-km tunnel from Malabar Hill to Cross Maidan and the 6.1-km tunnel from Yerawali to Yari Road.

Hospitals disabled
Hospitals in South Mumbai too had to contend with dehydrated taps. Jaslok Hospital has called for 37 tankers since Monday. "We will not charge the patients. We hope water supply is restored soon, though we understand the cut is owing to maintenance work. We have called for water tankers today also, so patients do not face any inconvenience," said M Masand Jaslok Hospital, CEO. Apart from Jaslok Hospital, the civic-run Nair Hospital was also hit owing to water shortage. On Monday, some 20 surgeries had to be postponed here. Cama and Albless Hospital managed with the water shortage. "All the scheduled surgeries have been performed till now, but tomorrow we will have to call for tankers. Now, our hospital tank is almost empty," said Dr Shobhna Tehra, medical superintendent, Cama and Albless Hospital.

Butterfly valve
A butterfly valve is from a family of valves called quarter-turn valves. The butterfly is a metal mounted on a rod. When the valve is closed, the disc is turned so that it completely blocks off the passageway. When the valve is fully open, the disc is rotated a quarter turn, so that it allows an almost unrestricted passage of the fluid. This valve can be used for isolating or regulating flow.u00a0