Mumbai’s heritage drinking water fountains can help reduce use of plastic bottles: Expert

Sitting under the tree next to Bai Mancooverbai Ardon Pyau, which was restored two years back, Chandrakant Mane and his friends recollect a time when there was no packaged drinking water and people coming to Horiman Circle Gardens would have water from a matka (earthen pot) filled from the bawdi (well).
Even today, when people wash their feet or hand with the water that flows from the tap provided by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), they object to it. The well water was declared contaminated and unfit for drinking by the BMC a few years ago. Passersby are instead provided with drinking water at the same spot, but by a municipal tap.
“Earlier, philanthropy meant providing water to the needy. Then came a time when people started purchasing mineral water from the stores and fewer people would gather at the bawdi,” said Mane, who is a driver by profession.
Rahul Chemburkar, a conservation architect and partner of Vaastu Vidhaan Projects, says that pyaus would have come up as a necessity around 150 years back because piped water systems in public spaces was uncommon then.
READ: Mumbai’s neglected drinking fountains are getting facelifts
“Drinking water wasn’t a commercial commodity in those days, but now it is. However, while we are reviving pyaus as a cultural heritage, it can be taken a step further and used to dispense drinking water, which could help reduce the use of plastic bottles,” said Chemburkar, who earlier restored the Keshavji Naik fountain in Masjid Bunder and is currently working on three other projects.
An official from the BMC’s heritage department considers the revival of pyaus as a ‘coincidence’ to the plastic ban imposed by the state government.
“In Europe too, the authorities thought that having water fountains at prime locations would help cut down on the use of plastic. We can try replicating a similar model once most of these pyaus are in place, which would help bring down the buying of plastic bottles” said the official.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan earlier announced a similar water-fountain scheme to combat the use of plastic.
-
Spice of Life | Rest assured, retirement is an opportunity, not a calamity
After 39 years of service, I was to retire. The language felt cold, even brutal. The speeches at the felicitation had begun in right earnest. I abruptly realised it was my departure that the speaker was referring to. I would stop being important at home as well. An increase in life expectancy has changed the concept of retirement, now half your work life is still left, leaving you a time management problem.
-
Amritsar police get five more days to grill Lawrence Bishnoi in Kandowalia murder case
An Amritsar court on Wednesday extended gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's police remand by five days, after the local police requested more time to interrogate him for the murder of gangster Ranbir Singh, alias Rana Kandowalia. Bishnoi, who has been identified as the main conspirator in singer Sidhu Moose Wala's murder, was brought to Punjab on June 15 on transit remand from Delhi, where he was lodged in the Tihar jail.
-
Punjabi actor arrested for hurting religious sentiments
Punjabi film actor Rana Jung Bahadur was arrested on Wednesday, a day after a Jalandhar court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, for allegedly making “objectionable” remarks about Lord Balmiki during a TV show. The remarks had triggered protests in Jalandhar, with members of the Balmiki community also calling for a Bandh on July 11 in case the police fail to arrest the actor.
-
GRP arrest gang of four women tricking train passengers and robbing them
Mumbai: Four women in their 20s, part of a notorious gang robbing long-distance railway passengers of their belongings, were arrested by the government railway police crime branch on Wednesday. The modus operandi of these women was to pretend that they were travelling alone and in need of help. Police officials said the women from Aurangabad would periodically visit Mumbai and board long-distance trains from Dadar or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
-
SIT set up to probe Sanjay Raut’s allegations against ED officials disbanded
Mumbai It has been a week since the regime changed in Maharashtra and the Mumbai police have already decided to disband the Special Investigation Team formed to investigate Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's allegations that certain Enforcement Directorate officials collected money from city builders through a South Mumbai businessman.