With the BMC imposing water cuts, people living in the western suburbs are facing severe water problems. Mumbai received scanty rainfall in June and July owing to which the civic body announced 20 per cent water cut from August 5. BMC officials claim the cut is minimal, but residents are crying foul as the water pressure in residential buildings reduced drastically. “We have not been getting adequate water supply for the past one week as the water pressure is low. We are procuring water from private tankers,” Joseph Pinto, a Khar resident.
Asifa Imrai, a resident and member of a local citizen's community said that due to the lockdown, more family members are at home. “The water shortage is creating havoc,” she said.
Congress corporator Bandra (west), Asif Zakaria said the crisis is more in elevated areas. “Due to the water cut, the pressure at which BMC is releasing the water is low, which is why the water is not reaching many pockets. Many places in Bandra and Khar are elevated.” Zakaria said that he was flooded with complaints last week, however, the problems have started to recede in the past couple of days.
Local activist, Manish Kishore blamed BMC officials for not maintaining pipeline works as there are leakages in many places. "The spot outside Jama Masjid Mumbai has a water leakage problem every month which is not being resolved by the civic body,” said Kishore.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner, Vinayak Visphute said the water crisis has improved now from what it was last week. He also assured, things will improve soon, as many of the lakes have started to overflow. "The problem rose due to shortage of water in the reservoirs, the reason why the pressure of the water through the pipeline is low. However, things will improve soon as the rains have started to intensify and many of the lakes are overflowing," Visphute said.
Another official from BMC's hydraulic engineering department said that considering the Modak Sagar Lake is full now, the water cuts might be revised. “The Modak Sagar lake overflowed on Tuesday. The Tulsi and Vihar lake too have reached their full capacity. The water level has now risen to a significant margin and chances of withdrawal of the water cut is being discussed,” the official said.
