Sewage water flows out of taps at Worli BDD chawls
Residents of BDD chawls in Worli are used to dirty water flowing from their taps. But, the problem seems to have worsened in the past month.
Residents of BDD chawls in Worli are used to dirty water flowing from their taps. But, the problem seems to have worsened in the past month.
According to residents, the civic body supplies them water for two hours every day.
“But, for the first 30 minutes, it is dirty and smells like sewer water. If we leave the tap open, the odour spreads in the entire house,” said Karuna Jakkani, a resident, adding that the water has such a foul odour that drinking it is out of question.
The problem is particularly grave for big families.
“We are a nine-member family,” said Narsubai Chapa, another resident. “Since we let the dirty water flow out, we get very little time to fill all our containers. This leads to scarcity of water.”
Hindustan Times had reported that as per the Environmental Status Report, the contamination level in water has increased to 26.10% in 2009-10 from 13.80% in 2008-09.
Civic officials claimed that the problem was arising due to old and rusting pipes that supply water to the area.
“These lines are really old and may be damaged.
They need to replaced as the sewage water flowing in the parallel lines gets mixed with the water supplied to the area,” said a civic official, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Narayan Pai, assistant municipal commissioner, said: “The BDD chawls are maintained by the public works department (PWD). But we are working with them to resolve the issue.”
However, Shiv Sena corporator Jagdish Sawant said that if the PWD and the civic body wouldn’t replace the underground pipes, they should give the residents and local politicians permission to do so.