Water cut hits city’s uphill housing societies hardest as tanker dependence surges

Mumbai residents face severe water shortages due to a 10% cut, with hilly areas like Mulund reporting up to 50% supply reduction, prompting protests.

MUMBAI: With the 10% water cut that came into effect in Mumbai from May 15 due to declining reservoir levels, several residents across the city are already feeling the strain, particularly those living in uphill and elevated pockets such as Mulund and parts of Bhandup, which have historically grappled with inconsistent water supply during summers.

Water cut hits city’s uphill housing societies hardest as tanker dependence surges

Besides warning residents against installing electric motors to draw water illegally, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has urged citizens to use water judiciously. However, for many housing societies located in hilly terrain, residents say the reduction has translated into a far steeper cut in actual supply on the ground.

One such housing cluster severely affected is the Yogi Hills Complex in Mulund, situated on hillocks adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). Residents there claim that even before the official water cut came into force, supply had already become erratic over the past few summer months.

“Our water supply was inconsistent even before the water cut started. The last few months of this summer have been difficult with reduced water supply. The 10% water cut practically works out to almost a 50% cut for us,” said Nilesh Thakkar, secretary of the Yogi Hills Federation, representing over 750 flats spread across seven societies.

“Against our daily requirement of 0.6 million litres of water, we are currently receiving only around 0.3 million litres. This has significantly increased our dependency on private water tankers,” Thakkar told HT.

According to him, societies that would ordinarily require only one tanker of potable water now need nearly four tankers daily to bridge the shortfall. His own societies, A1 and A2 in Yogi Hills, have witnessed a sharp rise in tanker dependence over the past few weeks.

Chairperson of the Yogi Hills Federation, Roopa Shetty, said individual societies are now incurring massive additional expenditure merely to secure basic water supply. “My society, Mount Classic 1, alone spent nearly ₹2.5 lakh on procuring water last month,” said Shetty.

Residents also raised concerns over the quality of non-potable tanker water being supplied privately.

“We are being forced to use tanker water even for bathing and other non-potable purposes. Some residents have complained of skin infections and have even started using Bisleri water to wash their faces. At times, the tanker water also reeks of a kerosene-like smell,” alleged Shetty.

Residents said the geographical location of the complex, perched on elevated terrain near SGNP, further aggravates the crisis during summer months when water pressure drops significantly.

“Against our requirement of 0.6 million litres of water, we had already started receiving only around 0.4 million litres during the summer. In the last two days, that has fallen further to around 0.3 million litres, which is almost half of what we need,” Shetty added.

Upset over the worsening situation, residents of the complex are now planning protests and agitation to press for immediate intervention by civic authorities.

Additional municipal commissioner (projects) Abhijit Bangar acknowledged that the impact of the water cut could vary depending on the topography of an area, with far-flung and hilly localities expected to face more acute shortages.

“The intensity of the water cut may vary based on the terrain, and hilly areas are likely to feel the pinch more severely,” Bangar said.

He added that civic engineers have already been directed to study the impact of the water cut across various localities, analyse supply patterns and propose remedial measures.

“We may consider providing water tanker supply to augment supply in such areas during the water cut period. However, this will be done based on assessments carried out by BMC officials and not on requests made individually by residents or housing societies,” Bangar clarified.

As every summer, private water tankers have once again emerged as the primary fallback option for several housing societies attempting to compensate for dwindling municipal supply. While the BMC operates its own tanker fleet, these are largely deployed for civic facilities such as hospitals, municipal offices and emergency supply situations.

Jeetubhai Shah, treasurer of the Mumbai Water Tankers Association, said the city’s tanker network itself is under mounting pressure. “Currently, around 1,500 tankers operating in Mumbai are dependent on barely 10 to 12 functional water filling points provided by the BMC. Ideally, there should be at least one filling point in every ward,” Shah said.

“Since only a limited number of filling points are operational, tankers spend more time waiting in queues, increasing turnaround time and eventually pushing up costs, especially for potable water tankers,” he added.

Bangar said the BMC would continue to proactively monitor the on-ground impact of the water cut and devise measures to ease difficulties being faced by residents. “The engineers will regularly review how the water cut is affecting citizens and accordingly work out solutions to alleviate their concerns,” he said.