Mumbai housing societies with suction tanks may get sops

In order to ensure that citizens are well-equipped to deal with water shortages in the future, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spearhead a campaign

In order to ensure that citizens are well-equipped to deal with water shortages in the future, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spearhead a campaign to encourage housing societies to install suction tanks to store drinking water. It also plans to announce concessions for societies that install these tanks.

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Earlier, the civic body had decided to identify housing societies located only in the island city that can install storage tanks. However, in a recent meeting, municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi directed all seven zonal deputy municipal commissioners to undertake the drive in their respective wards. The officials will survey feasibility and availability of space in their areas.

On an average, each household in Mumbai currently gets about three to four hours of water daily. The BMC supplies 3,750 million litres daily against the city’s demand of 4,200 million litres.

A senior hydraulic engineer said that since the water supply comes from the outskirts of Mumbai, the pressure of the supply decreases by the time it reaches the city. “The island city should compulsorily have such tanks as any water crisis would have a major impact on this part of the city compared to the suburbs,” he said.

Harshad Kale, deputy municipal commissioner of Zone I (covering areas in Island City), said, “A lot of things have to be considered before installing the suction tanks, as a majority of the housing societies here are old and many do not have the required space in their compounds. We have informed the building department officials to work on this. So far, nothing has been decided on the subsidies that are to be given to them.”

The BMC requires 14.47ml water stock at the end of the monsoon for it to last till next year.