New buildings to get water supply

Projects that need less than 2 lakh litres per day will get partial supply; larger projects must wait till 2012.

New buildings will get municipal water supply, but only the smaller ones. And they too will get only half the volume granted to other buildings, the municipal corporation announced on Saturday.

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — facing a water crisis in the wake of a weak monsoon and already tackling a daily shortfall of 850 million litres — had said that no water connections would be granted to new buildings after December 31.

Now they have relented, saying buildings with a total demand of under 2 lakh litres per day — that’s (on average) a seven-storey building with 28 flats or less — will get 45 litres per head per day.

Most buildings are granted 90 litres per head per day. Larger constructions, meanwhile, will have to wait till 2012, as Chief Minister Ashok Chavan announced earlier this month.

“Due to the poor monsoon and low lake levels, we have decided to give only 50 per cent water supply to new buildings,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Anil Diggikar. “We will also be writing to the state government, asking that more water be sanctioned for Mumbai from the Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna lakes in Thane.”

The weak monsoon has hit lake levels hard, with only three of the six lakes in and around Mumbai overflowing during the rains.

Total water stocks in the six lakes that supply water to Mumbai are currently at 7.55 lakh million litres, as against 9.81 lakh million litres last year.

As a result, the city is already facing a 15 per cent water cut for residential buildings and a 30 per cent cut for commercial and industrial users.