Water to eastern suburbs to be fully restored today

The supply was affected due to a four-hour electricity supply disruption to the Pise and Panjrapur water treatment plants, lasting from 8.20 pm on Tuesday to 12.50 am on Wednesday. The electricity supply was also lost briefly between 5.45 pm to 6.15 pm

MUMBAI: Water supply to the eastern suburbs and the eastern side of Mumbai city will be fully restored by Thursday morning, a civic official said. The supply was affected due to a four-hour electricity supply disruption to the Pise and Panjrapur water treatment plants, lasting from 8.20 pm on Tuesday to 12.50 am on Wednesday. The electricity supply was also lost briefly between 5.45 pm to 6.15 pm.

Water supply was affected across all the eastern suburbs from Mulund to Mankhurd, including Vikhroli and Chembur, where water is supplied from Bhatsa Dam.

Describing the incident as “very rare”, the official stated that electrical supply had never been disconnected for over four hours at a stretch. Because of this, the entire pumping system of approximately 18 water pumps was affected. These pumps were restored in phases till 3 am on Wednesday.

Water supply was affected across all the eastern suburbs from Mulund to Mankhurd, including Vikhroli and Chembur, where water is supplied from Bhatsa Dam. Areas on the eastern side of the city, including Wadala and Sewri to Mazgaon, where water comes from the Bhandarwada reservoir at Mazgaon, were also affected.

While the BMC normally supplies about 2,020 million litres of water per day (MLD) to these regions from Bhatsa Dam, this roughly provides half of the city’s water needs. On Wednesday, the BMC could supply only 1,450 MLD of water, resulting in low water pressure and inadequate water supply due to the technical snag.

“We need a very high load of power to lift 2,020 MLD using heavy water pumps,” the official explained. “Generators cannot meet such a high power load, and hence we are entirely dependent upon the Maharashtra State Electricity Board for our power supply.”

The official added that if there were issues with the Pise water treatment plant, they would normally use the Panjrapur plant as a back-up. “But both the plants failed to work this time and hence the water supply was disrupted completely,” he said.