Pipelines burst; city faces 30% water cut

The city will face a 30% water cut this Friday, after two major pipeline bursts surfaced on a portion of Tansa mains on Thursday. The island city, including both eastern and western suburbs, will have to bear the brunt of the water crunch. The worst hit will be Colaba, Marine Lines, Navy Nagar, Malabar Hills, Prabhadevi, Lower Parel, Bandra, Santa Cruz, Andheri, Malad, Goregaon, Kurla, Kandivli and Bhandup. But residents of Byculla, Dongri, Parel, Dadar, Govandi, Deonar and Mankhurd will be exempt from the cut. They will, however, have to tolerate low water pressure all day.

The Tansa water pipeline is the outlet pipeline which carries water from Tansa lake to the Bhandup water complex, through which remaining parts of the city receive water.

Civic officials refuted all claims of sabotage in the incident. “The pipeline was old and there is no possibility of sabotage in the incident,” said DM Gondalia, deputy municipal commissioner (Special engineering).

Meanwhile, officials added that normal water supply will be restored by Monday. The hydraulic department of the BMC assured that the repair task would be completed in 48 hours.
“The repair work is going on war footing. The Tansa main is blocked to stop wastage of water. Also, the water supply has been diverted to other water pipelines. There is no cause for panic,” said chief hydraulic engineer, Ramesh Bamble.

Numerous pipeline bursts have come to light due to old pipelines. The BMC thus plans to replace water pipelines with tunnels. The new tunnels will run from Aghai to Gundavali and the other would connect Gundavali to Bhandup.