City to face 15% water cut till March 5

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said while work on repairing the transformer has started, the repair works will lead to water cuts in Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwandi and other MMR corporations receiving water through ‘Mumbai 2’ and ‘Mumbai 3 ‘ water system

Mumbai: After a fire erupted at the civic body’s Pise water pumping station on Monday evening, the city will face a 15% water cut until March 5. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said while work on repairing the transformer has started, the repair works will lead to water cuts in Mumbai, Thane, Bhiwandi and other MMR corporations receiving water through ‘Mumbai 2’ and ‘Mumbai 3 ‘ water system. Thane Municipal Corporation too announced a 50% water cut in Thane city until further notice.

City to face 15% water cut till March 5

“On Monday, the plant was completely shut down after a fire erupted around 7pm. Transformers had to be shut down due to fire. The fire was controlled after 3.5 hours. Restoration works started after 10:30pm,” said Purshottam Malwade, Hydraulic Engineer, BMC. “The transformer repairs will take a few days, and till then, the city will continue to have around 15% water cut.”

As of Monday night, 10 of the 25 wards in the city were without water. By Tuesday morning, 50% of the water supply to the city, was restored and by evening, 70%.

“Around eight pumps at the water treatment plant at Panjrapur were commissioned from 4am on Monday. From 9am, low-pressure water supply from ‘Mumbai 2’ system was restored to eastern suburbs and Golanji, Raoli, Fosbery and Bhandarwada service reservoirs in the city area,” said BMC.

It added that from 11 am, a second transformer was inspected and commissioned, and six other pumps at the Pise pumping station were gradually commissioned. As of Tuesday evening, 15 of the 20 pumps were functional.

Sejal Gala, a resident of Lalbaug, said water in their building, which typically flows 24/7, ran out at around 11:30am. “We don’t even have water to use in the bathroom,” Gala said. “I had to order five 10-litre water cans, and I suspect we will have to order more. I even called the BMC’s helpline, but they did not tell us when we could expect the water supply to be back. The areas that have got water are receiving it with low pressure.”

Ten of the 25 wards in the city faced 100% water cuts, including parts of the eastern suburbs and island city. Western suburbs also faced a 30% water cut today.

Another resident, Madhusudan Gutti, from Mulund, said they too had run out of water by 11am. “We requested people not to use a lot of water, and not wash cars or clothes so that drinking water and essential use are prioritised. But even then, the underground water tank we have has run dry. As we foresee that our water supply won’t be back to usual before tomorrow, we have ordered water tankers. Our homes do not have water storage, so we’ll need it to tide us over.”

A Parel resident, Yogesh Kokatay, said they had not received water, but due to the individual water storage tanks in their homes, they will be able to manage for Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. “Hopefully the issue will be resolved by the night,” he said.

Meanwhile, BMC’s Hydraulic engineer’s department took to the social media platform ‘X’ and announced that the water supply to the Malabar Hill area was shut on Tuesday evening following a heavy leakage at Ridge Road Outlet near Malabar Hill Reservoir. “As a result, the water supply to Ridge Road, Dongarshi Road, Ratilal Thakkar Road and J Mehta Road was foreclosed. The work of attending leakage is under progress,” said BMC’s Hydraulic Engineer X handle.

Meanwhile, taking a dig at BMC’s deep cleaning drive, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray took to social media platform ‘X’, and shared a video of a water tanker washing traffic median and wrote, “Today Mumbai faces a water cut. And this is going on near Worli Sea Face, courtesy- the great nonsensical idea of “deep cleaning” by the most incapable cm of the khoke regime. @mybmc what is the cost per tanker for this nonsense? What is he exactly doing?” (sic).