Indian Express 22.12.2009
Water zone plan put on hold as corporators fear chaos
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to equalise water supply distribution by the way of zoning has been put on hold for now.
To deal with the present crisis that have left fag ends of the city almost waterless, the BMC had announced re-zoning of water supply under which certain areas would face 100 per cent cut one day in a week. However, BMC corporators did not give their consent to the civic administration’s plan stating that it would catch citizens off guard. They have asked the BMC to create awareness about zoning and take public consensus before implementing the plan.
“There will be unnecessary chaos and panic amongst citizens if they suddenly start getting zero water supply once a week,” Congress leader Sameer Desai said.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Anil Diggikar said that as per the demands of party leaders, zoning will be experimented in certain areas that face acute water shortage before implementing it in the entire city. “If the pilot (experiment) ensures equal distribution of water by means of regulating pressure in the pipelines, we will carry it out in rest of the city too,” Diggikar said
However, some corporators objected to the pilot study too. “There has been micro re-zoning at a number of low pressure areas, but there was no visible result,” said a corporator, requesting anonymity.
The corporators have asked the civic administration to take up pipeline leakages repair on war-footing and crack down on water thefts by seizing booster pumps and curbing water mafia. “The old pipelines carrying water from Tansa dam sees major leakages that need repair urgently,” Mayor Shradha Jadhav said.
The group leaders also plan to meet Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to request the grant of additional water from state-owned Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa dams — they together account for 2,350 million litres per day (mld) of the total water supply of 3,450 mld.
