As if the big pipe burst on the Tansa main line on Monday wasn’t enough, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has noticed several small leaks on the same line and is now trying to fix them all.
On Wednesday, two major leaks were noticed at Pugaon near the stretch that burst earlier. More were found by the detection squad soon after.
“We had already repaired the major leak and some minor leaks by covering the pipeline with caps. We will see whether the caps work or not,” said Vinay Deshpande, chief hydraulic engineer.
According to Deshpande, these spots require urgent repairs. But the hydraulics department is still stuck seeking sanctions from the administration to undertake the repairs. “We will have to check if the supply needs to be stopped. If not, we can go ahead with the work without a problem,” Deshpande said.
“We are trying to fix the leaks by using a method which does not require isolation of the entire stretch. If we isolate the stretch,
it will result in an additional water cut,” Anil Diggikar,
additional municipal commissioner said.
The 100-year-old pipeline has ruptured more than 300 times in 2009. In the past five years, the 41-km stretch between Tansa lake and Tarali village near Bhiwandi has ruptured at different spots leading to wastage of thousands of litres of water.
Meanwhile, the city has 3.91 million litres of water remaining in all its lakes, even as Vihar lake has hit its lowest drawable level. That translates into water that will last for about 2.5 months. “But,
we have made provisions for water supply till July 15,” Diggikar said.
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