Bathing is a thing of the past for them

Prashant Pawaskar, a central government employee, has been wiping himself with a sponge in the name of taking a bath for the past two days. A bucket full of water is a luxury his family can’t afford. And the Pawaskars are not the only ones living this way; over 2,500 families residing in 50-odd buildings at the central government staff colony at Ghatkopar have been forced to alter their lifestyle to bear with an acute water crisis.

Their problems have aggravated since Monday. Many families residing on the upper floors in these buildings have received no water for the entire week. The fortunate ones have only received water for 10-15 minutes. Some have stopped washing clothes, and others like Pawaskar have decided to sacrifice a proper bath.

Then there are those who have been taken to eating outside to avoid using water. “It does not suit our pockets. But this is the only option,” said Rupesh Mhatre, another resident of the colony.

Is relief in sight? Seems unlikely. Even as families continue to reel under the water shortage, the state-run public works department, which handles the maintenance for the colony, and the hydraulic department of the municipal corporation which supplies water to the city, have been passing the buck on each other.

PWD officials claim that the water shortage in the colony has aggravated due to reduction in the amount of water supplied by the hydraulic department. The latter, however, claims that the shortage is due to problems of maintenance of internal distribution lines, which is handled by the PWD.

“Buildings in the colony’s vicinity have not cited such complaints,” a civic official said.

(Names of the residents have been changed to protect identity)