Citizens furious as parts of Mumbai receive muddy water

On Sunday, following heavy rainfall, rainwater entered the Bhandup complex, forcing BMC to shut down the water purification system and electric supply, as a precautionary measure

The residents from several areas in the city like Worli, Dadar, Mahim, Kandivli, Mumbai Central have complained of getting muddy drinking water supply for the past three days. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), however, said that the water supply was affected after the heavy rainfall inundated the Bhandup water filtration plant on Sunday, and the advisory to boil drinking water has been issued. The BMC has said the problem would be resolved in a day.

Several parts of the city did not receive the regular municipal drinking water supply on Sunday morning.

On Sunday, following heavy rainfall, rainwater entered the Bhandup complex, forcing BMC to shut down the water purification system and electric supply, as a precautionary measure. Excess stormwater (rainwater) from the Bhandup complex drains into Vihar lake. Since the lake also overflowed on Sunday morning, it did not accept stormwater accumulated inside the complex. This led to waterlogging and inundated the complex building.

Following this, several parts of the city did not receive the regular municipal drinking water supply on Sunday morning. Water supply to parts of the eastern suburbs was also affected.

Dhanpal Jain, a resident of Worli said, “The colour of the water is yellow. Even after boiling, the water is not drinkable. Citizens are prone to water-borne diseases like cholera, typhoid, jaundice, skin infections and gastric diseases. For people like us, it is relatively easy to buy mineral water from outside and consume it. However, many are consuming the same water by boiling it, as they cannot afford mineral water.”

Another Worli resident, Praneshan MS said, “We are getting yellowish, muddy water since Wednesday. It cannot be boiled or used even for washing clothes or bathing.”

Mahim resident Irfan Machiwala said, “We have been getting muddy water since Monday. I also complained to the local ward’s water department officials. But their response is standard that the problem is due to the Bhandup plant’s waterlogging. It has been five days to the incident now, but the civic body is still not able to find a solution for the same.”

Ajay Rathore, chief of BMC’s hydraulics department said, “The problem is due to the waterlogging at Bhandup’s plant. We are assuming that something went during maintenance work and the situation was very difficult at that time. However, only some parts of the city are affected. By tomorrow, the situation will get normal everywhere.”

The BMC supplies around 3,850 million litres of drinking water to the city against the demand of over 4,000 million litres daily.