Save water, it’s now or never: BMC

Despite three months of harsh cuts, the water crisis in the city has not been mitigated. Owing to deficient rains, Mumbai still has a two-month deficit over last year.

To prevent the lakes from drying up before the next monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) imposed a 15% supply cut, and is tapping groundwater and recycled sewage water as supplementary sources. Also, the state has agreed to release more water from its two reservoirs — the Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna.

While households are complaining about the scarcity, senior officials from the BMC’s hydraulic department say that the summer months, especially March and April, will be more trying.

An engineer from the department says water losses due to precipitation and transportation will increase. He added there is no way to prevent the loss. Still, the BMC has launched a drive to plug leakages and sever unauthorised connections.

Citizens will have to chip in to overcome the crisis, say BMC officials, adding the least they can do is bring instances of water wastage and pilferage to the civic body’s notice. A helpline (telephone number 108) has been set up for this — 80 leakages on average are reported monthly in each of the 24 wards.

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