At a special meeting held on Monday, the civic body’s hydraulic department cited the city’s topography as the main reason for this.
It will not be possible to supply water equitably in Mumbai, believes the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
At a special meeting held on Monday, the civic body’s hydraulic department cited the city’s topography as the main reason for this. “The topography is such that it is impossible to supply equal amounts of water everywhere. Some structures are at a greater height than some others, making equitable distribution difficult,” said Ramesh Bambale, chief engineer in the department.
However, he admitted that there is a gap between demand and supply in the city. “To minimise this, we will start large-scale water audits across the city. This will help us study the individual requirements and the leakages. As per the findings, suitable corrective measures will be taken,” he said. The report of the audits will be submitted by the end of June.
Mumbaikars have for long struggled with inequitable distribution, which means that the area’s water supply is not in keeping with its population density. The issue of inequitable water supply has also become a political one, with corporators criticising the civic administrators for unfair water distribution. While some areas reel under scarcity, some others get more water than they need, they say.
Sameer Desai, Congress corporator from Goregaon, said: “Several parts of Goregaon have not been getting water. Every individual should get 225 litres of water daily, but there are slums that don’t get even 50 litres of water every day.”
Corporators also point out that south Mumbai gets more water than the suburbs though its population density is lower than that of the latter. “South Mumbai has fewer residents but a higher floating population. The city’s offices are concentrated in south Mumbai, which also has a high rate of pipeline pilferages. This is why more water is supplied to the island city,” said Bambale.
The city gets 3,350 MLD of water against a requirement of 3,800 MLD. Standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale, who presided over Monday’s meeting, said the issue will be discussed at length and resolved.
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