The civic body Saturday repaired a water pipeline on Jogeshwari-Vikroli Link Road three days after it was ruptured. (Representational image)

The civic body Saturday repaired a water pipeline on Jogeshwari-Vikroli Link Road three days after it was ruptured during an ongoing piling work for Metro 6 (Lokhandwala-Jogeshwari-Vikroli) by Metro section by Mumbai Metro Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) appointed contractor. Water supply to the suburbs that was reportedly suspended for three days is likely to resume Sunday morning, officials said.

Residents of Andheri, Jogeshwari, Bandra, Ghatkopar and Kurla were affected as water supply to the areas was snapped after the pipeline was damaged January 29. In most of the areas, residents had to depend on private tankers to meet daily water needs for three days, with many blaming the BMC for failing to alert them about the supply cut.

On Saturday, BMC tankers made over 460 trips to affected areas, a BMC official said.

“The BMC failed to inform citizens about the pipeline burst Wednesday. Subsequently, when we did not get water Thursday, we were told that the rupture will be fixed by Friday and supply will be normalised on Saturday. However, on Friday late night people were informed that it will take another 24 hours to restore the supply,” Ritesh Jadhav, a resident from Andheri, said.

Another resident of the area said as several people had resorted to bulk purchase of bottled water to meet the drinking water and other needs, shopkeepers spiked their prices to make the most of the situation.

BMC officials said the 1,800-mm diametre inlet main at Veravali 1 and 2 reservoirs was breached during the piling work near Hill Crest Building on JVLR. The reservoir, which supplies water to the suburbs, had been emptied during the repair work, the official added.

“The BMC staff had to enter the pipeline to repair it, which made it a very challenging task. The work has now been completed. We will refill Veravali reservoir and water supply to the suburbs will normalise by Sunday morning,” an official from BMC’s hydraulic engineering department said.

The MMRDA, meanwhile, has clarified the pipeline was damaged because a wrong utility map was given by the BMC. “The piling work was going along the alignment that was free of any utility. The BMC had informed us that there was no pipeline below the ground, but as the work began a pipeline at located at a depth of nine-metre broke,” an MMRDA official said.

R A Rajeev, MMRDA Commissioner, said to restore the damaged pipeline the Authority provided two earthmovers and one poclain machine, 10 engineers, 30 personnel and traffic marshals to the BMC. “All possible efforts were taken to fix and restore water supply from the damaged pipeline and further course of repair will be done as per the instructions issued by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai,” he said.

Around 5 pm Wednesday, a team of MMRDA engineers, while carrying out piling work, found their piling rig drill had struck a water pipeline. Officials working on the site immediately informed the MCGM and requested them to stop the flow of water. Meanwhile, the MMRDA team managed to divert the water flow towards a Storm Water Drain to avoid waterlogging in the area. The civic body’s hydraulic team later tried to control the water flow, but unfortunately, it kept flooding the streets till 4.30 am Saturday.