Want 24x7 water supply in Mumbai? You’ll have to wait till 2018

Mumbai city news: The water development improvement project, which began in 2014 to provide uninterrupted water supply to Mumbai by 2019, is moving at a snail’s pace

The Shiv Sena’s poll promise to provide 24x7 water supply to 1.2 crore Mumbaiites seems to have been postponed indefinitely. The pilot project, currently being carried out at T (Mulund) and H/West (Bandra) wards, is likely to be completed only by March 2018.

Currently, about 10% of Mumbai’s population, in Ghatkopar, Bhandup and Mulund, receives uninterrupted water supply. (HT File Photo)

The water development improvement project (WDIP), which began in 2014 to provide uninterrupted water supply to Mumbai by 2019, is moving at a snail’s pace. This has not hindered political parties from assuring Mumbaiites of 24x7 water supply before every civic polls. The Shiv Sena, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have all made the same promise recently.

However, a closer look at the facts reveals that this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Currently, about 10% of Mumbai’s population, in Ghatkopar, Bhandup and Mulund, receives uninterrupted water supply. Each household gets four hours of water daily. The BMC had hoped that if the pilot project was successful, it would provide round-the-clock water supply to citizens four years from now.

“Why has the WDIP’s progress been kept a secret? Consultants have been working on it for more than four years, with no results. The BMC still doesn’t know which areas in the ward have poor water supply,” said Asif Zakaria, Congress corporator from H-west ward.

At a standing committee meeting held last month, corporators asked the civic body to clarify the status of the project. “The project has been hit by delays, but we are confident that 24x7 water supply will be possible in both wards by 2018,” said a civic official.