Another water pipe bursts; it can happen again

Friday saw yet another water pipeline burst in the city, making it the third incident in over 24 hours.

Friday saw yet another water pipeline burst in the city, making it the third incident in over 24 hours.

HT Image

This time, the pipeline burst at the Pawan Hans compound in Santacruz (west), allegedly because of negligence by civic contractors who were repairing a storm water drain.

It is expected to be fixed by Saturday morning. There will be no additional water cut, and the current 30 per cent cut due to the earlier ruptures will be reduced to the regular 15 per cent on Saturday.

The city has lost around 30 lakh litres of water — the amount would have sufficed the needs of 33,000 Mumbaiites in a day — because of the three ruptures.

What’s worrying is that the pipe bursts are likely to keep happening.

The majority of ruptures occur because the pipes are almost a century old, and it’s going to take the civic body the next two-and-a-half years to replace the 43-km-long Tansa pipeline, where most bursts are reported.