20% water cut in city homes from today

With insufficient water stock even after almost three months of monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday announced a 20% cut in the amount of water supplied to households and 50% cut for hotels, industries, soft drink or water bottling units, swimming pools and other bulk water consumers, starting midnight.

With insufficient water stock even after almost three months of monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday announced a 20% cut in the amount of water supplied to households and 50% cut for hotels, industries, soft drink or water bottling units, swimming pools and other bulk water consumers, starting midnight.

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While by this time of the year, the BMC needs water stock that would last 340 days, the available stock -- 9.62 lakh million litres -- will only last 265 days. “The water stock is at least 28% less compared to last year. We will review the situation on October 1, and then decide on further water cuts,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, additional municipal commissioner.

Of the 3.7 lakh connections in the city, 88% are for domestic users, 8% for commercial and the rest for industrial users. The BMC supplies around 3,750 million litres of water to the city daily, which will be reduced to 3,200 MLD after the cuts.

If the catchment areas of the seven lakes in Thane that supply water to the city do not get enough rain, there may be more water cuts. While there is a reserve water stock in all catchments, it cannot be utilised without special provisions, claimed civic officials.

The civic body has also instructed local ward officials to fix water pipeline leakages. “Officials have been instructed to fix leakages that will help us conserve water,” Mukherjee said.

The civic body has also decided not to give new water connections to gardens and promote water harvesting.