Indian Express 16.02.2010
Pvt tankers to supply water this summer
Express News Service Tags : summer water supply, mumbai Posted: Tuesday , Feb 16, 2010 at 0012 hrs
Mumbai:The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will hire private water tankers this summer to transport water to areas where water pressure is low in pipelines. The civic body has also proposed to buy ten tankers having a capacity of 10,000 litres each.
Due to the poor rainfall in the last season in the catchment areas of the lakes, the city has been facing an acute water crisis. The BMC has imposed 15 per cent water cut for domestic purposes and 30 per cent cut on commercial users. The problem has been worse in the areas near the end of the supply pipeline resulting in reduced pressure.
“The situation is likely to get worse during the summer as the reservoir levels will drop and the force with which water reaches the end of a pipeline will further get reduced. We are therefore hiring only the tankers from private firms, not the water. We will use these tankers to physically lift water from our reservoirs and transport it to fag end areas that are not receiving any water at all,” said hydraulic engineer Vinay Deshpande
Nine private water tanker firms bid for the project and the lowest bidder was chosen. It would cost BMC Rs 9.90 lakh. The BMC already has 24 tankers, one for each of its 24 administrative wards. “However, one tanker per ward is proving inadequate and to be prepared for summers we will need additional tankers,” said Deshpande.
Only 2900 mld is currently being supplied by the BMC against the demand of 4300 million litres of water per day in the city. At present, the total available water in the lakes is 2 lakh million litres less than the availability last year.
