Navi Mumbai Water Woes: Residents in Multiple Areas Face Low Pressure & Contamination

Navi Mumbai: The water supply problem that started at the beginning of this month has continued in several parts of the city especially under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). Apart from low pressure, residents complained of muddy and contaminated supply.

A water supply shutdown was conducted by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on June 2 and 3 for repair work of the pipeline and water treatment plant. This was followed by another shutdown taken by NMMC on June 7 to carry out necessary work related to the pre-monsoon water supply at Morbe Dam main pipeline and Bhokarpada Water Treatment plant.

The supply could have been restored across the city; however, on June 10, the 2024 mm pipeline of the Morbe Dam Project of NMMC burst near Adai village and the supply was again stopped. The civic body repaired the pipeline within 24 hours and claimed to have supplied 472 million litre per day (MLD) water across the city.

Either no water supply or low pressure

However, many areas in the city reported low pressure or even no water supply. Rohidas Patil, a Koparkhairane resident, said that muddy water was supplied in his area. Similarly, Priyanka Sinha, a Nerul resident said that it was supplied for a few minutes with low pressure.

A senior official from the civic body’s engineering department said that the initial water supply after pipeline repair was a little muddy which was rectified.

Apart from NMMC, areas falling under City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) are also witnessing a similar problem. The 24-hour shutdown was taken following maintenance work carried out by Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company (MSETC) on 22KV CIDCO and 22KV MSETCL at the Hamrapur Feeder main line. In addition, repair work was carried out at the Hetwane Dam pipeline at the water treatment plant at Jite on Thursday. There was no water supply to Dronagiri, Ulwe, Kharghar, and Taloja Phase II nodes on June 9.

Complaints of contaminated or muddy water

Netra Kiran Patil, a former corporator from Kharghar said that for the last two weeks, muddy and contaminated water has been supplied to many sectors in the node.

Vijay Chougule, Shiv Sena (Shinde) Chief of Navi Mumbai met the municipal commissioner Rajesh Narvekar on Tuesday and discussed the issue in detail. He demanded that water supply should be restored immediately across the city including in slums. Chougule was accompanied by former corporators who demanded to transfer of the Ilthanpada dam from the Central Railway and the use of the water for supply in local villages.