Pipeline replacement work disrupts water supply in Gurgaon

Civil Lines, DLF Phase 2 and 3, Sushant Lok 1 among areas reeling under water crisis

With supply across the city disrupted due to the ongoing work to replace the old master pipeline of the Basai Water Treatment Plant with a new one, residents faced acute water crisis on Friday morning.

With supply hit, residents sourced water from private tankers to meet their daily needs. (Parveen Kumar/HT PHOTO)

In the absence of regular water supply, residents in Civil Lines, DLF Phase 2 and 3, Sushant Lok Phase 1 and sectors 14, 15, 17, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, and 40 and sourced water from private tankers to meet their daily needs.

The Basai treatment plant is the primary source of water supply in the city, as it pumps 60 of the total 80 million gallons a day (MGD) that the city gets.

The city’s other water treatment plant, Chandu Budhera, supplies the remaining 20 MGD.

Officials of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) started the process of replacing old master pipelines on Thursday morning and issued an alert saying that the work will get over by Friday evening and normal supply will be restored by late Saturday afternoon.

Despite, Resident Welfare Associations (RWA’s) alerting residents in advance about the disruption of water supply on account of the replacement work, the latter claimed that their ‘stocked up’ supply was running low.

“After filling my overhead tank, I also stored water in buckets and utensils to ensure there’s enough in stock when supply is disrupted. However, my family’s water requirement is more than what I had anticipated and our stock ran out on Friday morning. Without any other alternative, I had to pay an exorbitant amount to a private tanker operator to meet my needs,” Shradha Kumar, a resident of DLF Phase 3, said.

Read I Pipeline work to affect water supply in Gurgaon on Monday

Several bureaucrats, judges, politicians, government, police and even civic officials, who reside in the Civil Lines area, were also among those to avail of the service of private tanker operators.

“I did not have water at my residence since last night, as my stock ran out. Left with no other choice, I had to call a tanker operator this morning,” an MCG official said.

Residents not aware of the GMDA work and expecting ‘regular’ water supply on Friday, were caught unawares.

“I did not receive water on Thursday and was able to manage with whatever I had stocked up on. However, I was expecting a disruption in supply for only a brief spell and wasn’t aware that the master pipeline was being replaced. With water running scare at home, I moved to my brother’s place in New Delhi till normal supply is restored,” Kritika Sharma, a resident of Sushant Lok Phase 1, said.

The disruption in supply comes a week after the GMDA took the onus of water supply from the Haryana urban development authority (Huda).

Huda, a body which primarily deals with real estate, had earlier stated that they were ill-equipped to handle the load of water supply. The state government transferred to the responsibility to the GMDA on January 1.

After taking over, GMDA officials agreed to replace the old pipeline, which has a width of 900mm and had developed leakages at multiple points, flooding the Basai Road. The old pipe is being replaced with one 1,300 mm wide.

Officials revealed that they decided to carry out this task during peak winter, as the demand for water is low during this time.

“Replacing the water pipeline was inevitable as its carrying capacity was low and it was worse for the wear. Instead of finding ourselves in a situation where the task of replacing the master pipeline had to be executed during the summer when demand for water is at its peak, we decided to replace the pipeline now and minimise the inconvenience to residents,” V Umashankar, CEO, GMDA, said.

The crisis

GMDA officials agreed to replace the old 900mm wide pipeline connected to Basai WTP, as it had developed leakages at multiple points leading to flooding of the Basai road

The old pipeline’s carrying capacity was low and it’s condition was getting progressively worse. Officials decided to carry out this task now, rather than in summer when the demand for water is at its peak

Supply affected since Thursday morning. Regular water supply expected to be restored by Saturday afternoon

Affected areas include Civil Lines, DLF Phase 2-3, Sushant Lok Phase 1 and sectors 14, 15, 17, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, and 40