The Times of India 10.09.2009
Political parties in BMC want roll back of water cut
MUMBAI: With an eye on the upcoming assembly elections, political parties in the BMC have demanded that municipal corportaion immediately roll back the ongoing water cut.
With the gradual rise in lake levels, the amount of water available in all six lakes now stands at 9,15,224 million litres, which should be enough to meet city's demand for the next season beginning October, said members of the standing committee on Wednesday. However, additional municipal commissioner, Anil Diggikar, in charge of the water department, said the administration will take stock of the situation at the end of this month.
"As of now, we only have 75% of the reserves as compared to last year. Ideally, full quota is reached by the end of September every year. However, if that does not happen this year, then we will have to see what can be done to meet demand for the next season,'' he said. Meanwhile, as another measure to tide over the crisis, the BMC has decided increase the height of spillway gates at Tansa, one of the major lakes. Increasing the height of 38 gates by 30 cm will give the BMC an additional 6,000 million litres of water annually. The existing height of the gates is 128.63 Town Hall Datum (THD).
Monday saw two lakes overflowing, including Tulsi (one of the smallest lakes in the city, supplying about 18 million litres of water a day out of the total supply of 3,500 mld).
With the gradual rise in lake levels, the amount of water available in all six lakes now stands at 9,15,224 million litres, which should be enough to meet city's demand for the next season beginning October, said members of the standing committee on Wednesday. However, additional municipal commissioner, Anil Diggikar, in charge of the water department, said the administration will take stock of the situation at the end of this month.
"As of now, we only have 75% of the reserves as compared to last year. Ideally, full quota is reached by the end of September every year. However, if that does not happen this year, then we will have to see what can be done to meet demand for the next season,'' he said. Meanwhile, as another measure to tide over the crisis, the BMC has decided increase the height of spillway gates at Tansa, one of the major lakes. Increasing the height of 38 gates by 30 cm will give the BMC an additional 6,000 million litres of water annually. The existing height of the gates is 128.63 Town Hall Datum (THD).
Monday saw two lakes overflowing, including Tulsi (one of the smallest lakes in the city, supplying about 18 million litres of water a day out of the total supply of 3,500 mld).
