City’s water stock lowest in six years

The city’s water stock today is the lowest it has been in six years. With the situation getting desperate, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is keeping all options open, including the technique of cloud seeding that has failed to bring results in the past.

The city’s water stock today is the lowest it has been in six years. With the situation getting desperate, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is keeping all options open, including the technique of cloud seeding that has failed to bring results in the past.

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The civic body has begun the tender process to appoint an agency to carry out cloud seeding and has sought permission for the procedure from the central government. It has also asked the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to provide technical support on the feasibility of cloud seeding.

A letter to IIT seeking its help was sent on Wednesday after the approval of municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte.

Assistance related to radar and other communication mechanisms needed to implement the technique, will be taken from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

"We will undertake cloud-seeding measures in September if we feel the need for it. We will, however, first analyse the rainfall in the month of August," said Rajiv Jalota, additional municipal commissioner (projects).

In 2009, the civic body had tried the same experiment at Modak Sagar and Tansa lakes, spending around Rs8 crore. The experiment failed to yield the expected results.

“Doubts about the success of the method continue to persist. There is also a section of experts who claim that rain induced from silver iodide is not potable. Besides, there have to be rain clouds for the experiment to work,” said a senior civic official from the hydraulics department.

The civic body will also consider increasing water cuts from the current 10% imposed across the city from July 1.

“Apart from cloud seeding, we are also considering an increase in the water cut to sustain the water stock,” said the official. Last week, the BMC directed its ward offices to recondition bore wells and ring wells in the city so that water can be drawn from these sources for non-potable uses.