Less water supply in suburbs from today

Residents of the suburbs from Malad to Borivli will have to brace themselves for increasing water woes from Monday, reports Bhavika Jain.

Residents of the suburbs from Malad to Borivli will have to brace themselves for increasing water woes from Monday.

HT Image

From Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will undertake work on a tunnel, which was damaged on February 14 a borewell was being dug illegally.

The 12-km tunnel from Liberty garden to Charkop, supplies water to Malad, Goregaon, Kandivli and Jogeshwari and is about 80 ft below the ground.

The water supply in areas between Malad and Borivli will be affected, as the civic body will be providing water through the old system of the pipelines.

“The pressure with which the water is supplied will be low, and the water through the old system will not reach a few areas,” said a civic source requesting anonymity.

This incident, a first for the civic body, put the BMC officials in a tizzy. They tried to repair the damage but due to a lack of expertise they approached the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), who have also constructed the tunnel.

“At this stage we cannot say how many days it will take to complete the work,” said Diggikar. When the tunnel is dewatered, around 22 mld of water will be wasted.

The BMC though, has a plan. “We will provide the water from the tunnel to the tankers,” said Vinay Deshpande, Chief Engineer Hydraulic department. The cost of the repairs is pegged at Rs 5.25 crore.