Kalyan water pipeline fault hits supply for 45L people
Power failures led to a water pipeline burst on Saturday; repair works carried out, normalcy restored
Around 45 lakh residents of several areas in Bhiwandi, Thane, Mira-Bhayandar and 34 villages in Bhiwandi taluka, faced irregular water supply on Saturday as the main pipeline of the Shahad-Temghar Water Supply Authority (STEM) located at Shahad, Kalyan got damaged in the morning. The pipeline repairs were completed by 7pm on Saturday and the supply was expected to resume late at night.
The 305MLD of water supply from STEM to these places remained shut for the day.
STEM officials said that the pipeline burst occurred due to the regular power failure in the premises since Friday.
“The pipeline is 30 years old and it could not take the load when there was constant power failure that led to the burst. We supply water to cities like Thane, Bhiwandi, Mira-Bhayandar and also 34 gram panchayats that have around 45 lakh residents. The entire supply of 305MLD of water was stopped due to the incident,” said Sanket Gharat, general manager, civil works, STEM.
“The repair work was completed by Saturday evening and accordingly the local civic bodies were informed to resume the supply late in the night,” added Gharat.
An MSEDCL officer, not wanting to be named, said, “There was a power failure to the STEM due to a broken conductor on Friday night. The line was restored later on after repair work.”
A total of six engineers from STEM and 20 labourers arrived at the spot for the repair works on Saturday morning.
As per the officials, this particular 1,850mm diameter pipeline is located near the Ulhas river that is adding hurdles to repair the pipeline.
The STEM supplies 122MLD of water to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and 75MLD of water to the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) and 11MLD to the 34 villages.
The STEM officials claimed that replacing the 30-year-old pipeline was already under way in phases. “We have already completed the work of replacing the 2km pipeline. The development plan for the remaining 10km is also ready. It will be taken up soon,” said Gharat.
Following the incident, the TMC managed the water supply in the city with 210MLD of water by zoning.
Vinod Pawar, deputy city engineer, TMC, said, “Due to the incident, 122MLD of water was less in our system on Saturday. We had to manage with 210MLD water through zoning by equally distributing it to all areas. The entire city received a reduced water supply for six hours.”
In Bhiwandi also, the supply was affected in various parts of the city with no water supply on Saturday morning.
The areas affected were Kamatghar, Dhamankar Naka-Patel compound, parts of Shanti Nagar, Narpoli, Raojinagar, Ashok Nagar, Chavan Colony, Navi Vasti, Bala Compound and nearby areas.
LP Gaikwad, water department officer of BNCMC, said, “The water supply to these areas was completely shut for the day due to the disruption. Residents were asked to use the stored water. In case of emergencies our two water tankers were ready to supply water.”
A resident of Bhiwandi Kharbav, one of the 34 villages, advocate Bhavesh Pawar, 28 said, “This was not the first time the water pipeline of STEM damaged and caused water shortage. Every day, we get less water and on Saturday there was no supply. How are we supposed to store water for daily use?”
Another resident from Kamatghar, Bhiwandi, Jayesh Lokhande ,37, said, “We came to know in the afternoon about the pipe burst and that there won’t be any supply. We had to depend on the small stock of stored water and buy drinking water from outside as there was no fresh water supply.”
PIPELINE BURST IN KALYAN
A valve of a pipeline at Birla College Road in Kalyan (W) damaged after a vehicle hit it on Saturday morning. Thousands of litres of water was wasted in the incident as the water rose like a fountain and kept spreading on the entire road.
Pedestrians and shopkeepers gathered at the spot while the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s (KDMC) water department was also informed.
The repair work of the valve was done in 30 minutes. As per the KDMC officials, the incident did not affect the water supply in the city.
Executive engineer of water department of KDMC, Rajiv Pathak, said, “The valve was damaged after a vehicle hit it on Saturday morning. The repair work was taken up immediately and finished in 30 minutes.”