Mumbaikars show restraint in water usage

Mumbai seems to have answered BMC’s save water call. The citizens have made a conscious effort to avoid wastage of water during Holi this year. Even as Mumbaikars sprayed colours on each other in the same fervour, engineers from the hydraulic department and the private water tanker operators believe that the water was low in use as compared to earlier years.

With the city facing its worst ever water crisis, the civic body had called upon citizens to avoid misuse of water during Holi. Revelers were asked to avoid rain dances and check water consumption, which usually soars during Holi. Although rain dances were staged at a few places, citizens largely exercised restraint while using water for revelry.

Hydraulic engineer Vinay Deshpande said that the department supplied 2,897 million litres of water on Monday. This was at par with the daily supply (2,900 mld) demand met by the civic body ever since it announced a 15% supply-cut in October last year, following deficient rains.

The civic society did not disappoint either. The bookings for private tanker supplies did not soar as anticipated. Rajesh Yadav of the Swastik water supplies, which operates between Bandra and Byculla, said that no special supply orders for Holi were received. “We only undertook regular orders,” he said.

Manoj Malpani of Malpani Enterprises Private Ltd, which supplies water to areas between Mumbai Central and Kandivli, agreed: “We even received queries from citizens inquiring if booking private tankers during Holi would amount to an offence,” he said. Malpani, however, said that he did receive two requests for Holi-related supplies. But they were not entertained.