Mumbaikars are sure to face the brunt of the city’s water crisis after the once a week 100% water cuts begin. But, what is not fixed is when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to start the cuts.
Even as many in the civic administration are pushing for the cuts to begin in January, the BMC’s political leadership wants to wait longer. “It should be the last resort,” mayor Shraddha Jadhav said. The politicians would rather prefer to have the six-day water regime implemented in the summer when the water woes will be at their peak.
Civic officials, however, insist that the whole issue cannot be stretched further and January has to be the month to start the cuts. The reason behind their argument being that the usage of water is low in winter and a 100% once a week cut will not cause great deal of inconvenience, which it will in the summer season. The civic engineers also feel the sooner the better approach would work fine.
“That way people will get used to the change in water allocation, which will allow them to devise their own water conservation methods,” a senior engineer said.
The debate is expected to be the main discussion point of a water crisis review meeting on Saturday. The six-day water regime was proposed by the BMC’s hydraulic department after the 15% water cuts that were imposed in the city increased the water woes of many people.
Civic authorities admitted to difficulties in supplying water to households, which are either located on the fag end of a distribution network, and those located on a higher plane. “A decrease in water pressure due to the cuts has also affected water supply to those residing on higher floors in buildings,” the officials said.
Under the six-day water regime, supply to a particular locality (sub-zone) from a distribution network will be discontinued for a day every week, so that other localities, dependent on the same network, receive water at better pressure.
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