No water cut, says BMC, get your pipeline checked

In a bid to allay misgivings about an unannounced water cut that is believed to be in force in the city, the BMC has clarified that it has not imposed any such cut; nor does it intend to do so in the near future. Residents, mainly in south Mumbai, have been complaining of low water pressure for around a month, which had fuelled speculation about a water cut.

However, civic officials said that the problem lies elsewhere, in the in-house pipelines supplying water. “The pipes need to be cleaned once in a while. We get complaints all through the year from various wards, but it doesn't mean we impose cuts the entire year. Checking and cleaning the pipeline will do just fine,” said a senior civic official from the hydraulic department.

However, officials have not ruled out that they may have to dip into the reserve water stock in lakes to see through the year. According to civic officials from the hydraulic department, the water stock

in all seven lakes stood at 13.35 million litres (ML) as of October 8. This figure is lower by almost one lakh ml, if compared to last year’s figures of 14.25 lakh ml. The civic body needs a total stock of 14.47 ml water at the end of monsoon to last the entire year.Some suburban residents faced similar problems in September but it was resolved after they had the pipelines cleaned. “We received low pressure water for almost 20 days, after which we got the pipeline checked as instructed by officials. The effect was evident from the very next day,” said Kush Vakharia, a Borivali resident.