FOUR DAYS after it was inaugurated after an extensive conservation effort, the iconic Flora Fountain in south Mumbai was shut down on Monday with the BMC suspecting that there is a leakage in its water troughs.
The 150-year-old Grade One heritage structure was inaugurated on January 24 by Yuva Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray and Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar after the first phase of restoration was completed.
Officials conceded that the inauguration may have been premature, and that the functioning of the fountain will now resume only it is ensured that there is no more loss of water on account of leakage or seepage.
Since the inauguration, the BMC has had to use additional water tankers apart from the regular water supply to operate the fountain. A senior official from BMC’s heritage department said, “After realising that there is constant water loss, we decided to shut the fountain. We are trying to locate the leakage, and only once it is fixed, will we start the fountain again. Last Saturday, a water tanker was supplied to the fountain.”
Restoration aims to recreate bygone era
On Monday afternoon, municipal workers had barricaded the fountain again and undertaken repair works.
Officials said that while the fountain’s storage tank has a capacity of 45,000 litres, only 20,000 litres are used to operate it, as there is soil settled in the tank.
“The concept of a fountain is that there should be no additional requirement of water as it functions by reusing the available water. However, every three or four days, an additional 10,000 litres have been supplied, by tankers, to keep the fountain functional. This means there is some kind of leakage or loss of water from the fountain,” an official said.
The fountain currently receives water from a municipal connection through a 200 mm pipeline that is quite old. “The regular water supply to the fountain is not adequate, as there is 10 per cent cut in supply in the city,” the official added.
The original design of the water supply system to the fountain, meanwhile, has been changed and the height of the current storage tank increased by 140 mm. “We did not get time to check the exact amount of water circulating through fountain. It will take us a few days to find out what is causing the loss of water,” an official said.
However, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of A Ward Kiran Dighavkar said, “There is no leakage in the fountain and the loss of water is on account of multiple reasons, such as evaporation and possible seepage but we are not sure. We have provided a water tanker last week for the fountain. There is no problem with structure.”
Executive Engineer of the heritage department, Sanjay Sawant, said: “We are making some adjustments to the valve and some testing is going on. The problem will be rectified soon. We are planning to have additional water supply.”
The restoration and repair of the fountain began in 2016 and a contract was awarded to Vikas Dilawari, heritage conservation architect of Indian National Trust For Art and Culture Heritage. The municipality has spent Rs 1.25 crore on the restoration project.
Dilawari said the fountain should function by reusing available water and no additional water should be required.
“Here, we are using tankers, as there is some loss of water from the trough of the fountain. The structure does not have any problem. The BMC engineers can explain more,” he added.
The second phase of the restoration includes beautification, landscaping and illumination of areas surrounding the fountain, expected to be completed by April.
