Water woes: Thane towers tap into stock meant for fire operations

THANE: The acute water scarcity in Thane and its suburbs due to erratic civic and tanker supplies is forcing several residential towers to divert water meant for fire-fighting operations to their residents.
Every building over seven floors has to make provision for water supply for fire-fighting as is mandated in the National Building Code of India. According to fire officials, water from these tanks is to be strictly used only to douse blaze.
However, several residents and society office bearers admitted that they are frequently forced to empty the water tank meant for fire-fighting operations and divert the stock to residents to mitigate the daily scarcity. The buildings later replenish the stock.
A resident of a high-rise near Anand Nagar said, "The supply from TMC is inadequate and tanker suppliers often express their inability to supply water due to which our society has to draw from the stock reserved to fight fire." Another local from a building near Manpada said their complex does not have alternative supply lines such as borewells, forcing them to rely on tankers and dig into the fire tank reserves.
Experts warned this practice was illegal and risky, and could lead to a disaster during fire emergencies. "Emptying the tanks, even temporarily, can be risky as though a structure may have fire-fighting equipment, it may be rendered useless in the absence of water," said Milind Kumar Deshmukh, former fire safety adviser to the state government.
Thane city, with a population of about 25 lakh, gets 485 million litres of water daily. The supply is grossly inadequate as a big volume is lost in transmission and faulty distribution networks, officials admitted.