24x7 water supply in future: Pilot project taken up at Bandra, Santacruz in Mumbai

With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) starting trials for 24x7 water supply project in H-West ward from Friday, Bandra and Santacruz may soon get water supply for more time.

On an average, each household in Mumbai gets about three to four hours of water daily. BMC manages to supply 3750 million litres of water daily, against the city’s demand of 4200 million litres.

The project, although called 24x7, is not aimed at around-the-clock supply, but will ensure the supply is for longer hours. The trial is expected to start in Mulund from next month on a pilot basis.

Sanjay Mukherjee, additional municipal commissioner (projects), said, “Once the network stabilises, the water supply will improve manifold. We have started testing at four water places in Bandra and will finish the work at the ward shortly.”

“The project looks at increasing the supply hours four to five times. Around-the-clock water supply is not possible owing to the massive size of the distribution network in Mumbai. Once these two wards are completed, we will take a call regarding extending the scheme to the rest of the suburbs”

As part of the project, the civic body has installed pressure regulatory valves and flow meters in the water mains in Bandra (West).

A senior official from BMC’s hydraulics department said, “Pressure valves will control the flow of water and increase the pressure without releasing excess water and adding on to the cost.”

The work on the water distribution improvement project (WDIP), to provide uninterrupted water supply to Mumbai by 2019, began in 2014.

Under the project, the civic body planned to offer 10 services that included quality assurance for water, leak detection in pipes, geographical information system (GIS) mapping for
the existing water supply network, asset registration, customer survey and customer relationship management, among others.

Another civic official said controlling the pressure of water supply will help eliminate water contamination and leakages.

“In order to ensure that all parts of the city receive proper water supply, it is released in excessive pressure,” he said.

“This causes leakages in pipes, leading to water contamination. Control on the pressure will avoid such major problems we have been facing for years,” he said.

First Published: Aug 25, 2018 01:36 IST