Civic body announces water cuts for construction sites : Hindustan Times

MUMBAI: After a 20% cut in water supply announced last week, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to further reduce the amount of water provided to construction sites and other commercial users such as bottling plants, swimming pools and gardens.

“These users will be inspected, and if they fall under the bulk consumer category, 50% water cut will be imposed. In case of construction sites, if they are not bulk consumers, the size of the connection will be reduced to 15mm,” said Ashok Tawadia, chief engineer, hydraulic department.

In addition, water tankers are only being provided in residential sectors to be used for drinking, from Monday. All the 24 ward officers have been instructed to check for water leakages and theft, to minimise the loss of water. The BMC has also decided to not give new water connections to public and private gardens.

The decisions have been taken as the water stock available in the seven lakes that supply water to the city has not increased significantly, though less than two months of the monsoon are left. As of now, the BMC needs water stock that will last for 340 days, but with none of the lakes having reached full supply level, the available water will last for another 262 days.

The seven lakes supplying water to the city are located in the neighbouring Thane district and the rainfall in their catchment areas has not been satisfactory since July.

According to sources in the BMC, if the rainfall continues to be deficient, the water cut might be increased.

Out of the 3.7 lakh connection holders in the city, 88% are for domestic purpose, whereas 8% are commercial and 4% are industrial users.

The BMC supplies about 3,750 million liters of water to the city daily. After the implementation of these cuts, the daily supply will be reduced to 3,200mld.