Damaged pipe, water crisis hit Borivli hard

It took BMC over 48 hours to restore normal water supply to the entire Borivli east area after a major pipeline was damaged on Sunday, due to ongoing Metro rail work opposite Magathane BEST bus depot on the Western Express Highway. In fact, as per local elected representatives, over three lakh residents faced partial or complete water cuts.

As per BMC officials from R/Central Ward, it was around 4.30 am on Sunday that they realised the pipeline was damaged after water began gushing out. "We soon realised that it was the 36-inch main pipeline that supplies water to almost all eastern parts of Borivli that had ruptured. The water supply was immediately stopped, but the problem facing us was that since this pipeline was laid in the 60s, we were not sure initially where and how deep it was located as the road surface has increased significantly over the years," said the BMC official, adding that MMRDA co-ordinated the work.

While BMC officials were trying to solve this dilemma, they soon realised that a Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) pipeline, as well as two high-tension electric cables, were situated above this water pipeline. "This made the work even more challenging as we could not use any machinery to dig the road surface as they were two major utilities and any damage to them would have created more problems. So the work was carried out manually. Finally, the pipeline, that was 20 feet below the road surface was repaired on Tuesday afternoon after we managed to replace the damaged portion of the pipeline with a new one. By 2 pm, we restored the water supply," informed Ramesh Ilag, Sub Engineer who works under the Assistant Engineer, Maintenance, water works (Western Suburbs). He added that the staff worked round the clock, but it was the challenges they faced that requied careful work, that delayed the work.

Meanwhile, several residents complained that they were severely hit due to the water crisis. "Right from Sunday, we did not receive any water supply, and it was only after making a few calls on Sunday that we were told it was due to damage to the water pipeline that supply had been discontinued. Even tankers, seeing an opportunity, raised their rates. Ideally, BMC should have made arrangements through water tankers, and not left citizens helpless," said Madhav Patel a resident from Kulupwadi.

"During the Metro work, the water pipeline had got affected. However, our contractors have now restored the it and there is no problem of water supply anymore," Dilip Kawathkar, Spokesperson, MMRDA.

Taking advantage

Inconvenienced residents said that water tankers took advantage of the situation raised rates