Even as the city’s water crisis takes centre stage in the lead-up to the BMC elections, several candidates could be left in a tizzy as they realise there are no easy ways to fulfil the election manifestoes.
In contrast to past elections, the grievances vis-a-vis the water supply are spread across the city and suburbs, posing a serious challenge to the state leadership.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, “The mismatch between the city’s population growth and its water requirements needs to be looked at again, with a long-term project in mind. The multi-crore water-linking project Pinjal-Dhamanganga, connecting the two rivers across Maharashtra and Gujarat, will have to be expedited to meet the challenge.”
The BMC supplies 3,400 million litres (MLD) to the city, whereas its daily requirement is 4,200 mld. The main water sources are Tansa, Tulsi, Upper and Middle Vaitarna, Bhatsa and Powai. On their part, the Shiv Sena and BJP are quick point out the heavy subsidy on water rates supplied to the city.
According to Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, “Mumbai charges the cheapest rates in the country - Rs 2.50per 1,000 litres for the poor/slums and Rs3.50 per 1,000 litres to its general citizens. BMC spends Rs12.25 per 1000 litres. The water supplied to the people is well processed, taking into account the cleanliness factor.”
Notwithstanding the election campaign, experts dealing with Mumbai’s civic problems are quick to maintain, “The water crisis cannot be dismissed as BMC’s headache. The state and Centre will have to play a proactive role to shoulder the responsibility of the water crisis in Mumbai.”
A senior bureaucrat in the state urban development said, “Whenever we confront problems, we make announcements to pacify the people. Nobody cares for a vision of Mumbai in 2050. The short-term measures of rationing water cannot be a final solution.”
“The Chitale committee report, which had suggested the construction of five dams almost 15 years ago, was ignored because of financial constraints by the Centre-state-BMC. Now they are undertaking the same projects piecemeal,” said a former bureaucrat.
The Shiv Sena, which is bearing the maximum brunt for having held the reins of the BMC for 16 years, admits it cannot resolve the crisis overnight with a magic wand, especially when the city’s influx, both domestic and migrant, continues unabated.
Uddhav Thackeray said, “The present sources can fulfil the requirements of 80-90 lakh people, but the population of the city has peaked to 1.5 crore. Plus there’s a high leakage of water, up to 20%.”
While maintaining that corrective steps were undertaken in the last five years to fix the problems, he said, “The replacement of old British pipelines in phases, coupled with plugging the leakages, has resulted in us saving 350-400 MLD water every day. The mega project, entailing the building of a 7.5-km tunnel and 35 km pipeline from lower Vaitarna to a treatment plant at Bhandup, is underway. The city’s water woes will be brought under check by May 2012.”
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