Despite there being a dearth of water in the city lakes, the civic body has been reluctant in repairing leakages in a 24-inch pipeline for the past six months. The water pipeline passes under the concrete road near Kalina University campus. While the water department is waiting for permission from the road department to start the work, lakhs of litres of water has gone waste already.
Their is no full proof mechanism to detect leakages under ground and sometimes they stay that way for months. However, in this case, the H East ward authorities were informed about the leakage and requested to take action several times. Yet, to this day, the leakage in the pipeline under CST Road remains.
Five leakages have been there for the past three months; the other leakage is on a 12-inch pipeline in the area, and this has been present for the past six months. Both the pipelines are big enough to cater to water supply from Kalina to BKC.
The H East water department engineer said: "The pipeline passes through a cemented road. We can't dig it without permission from the road department. We have informed them already and will start work as soon as we get a go ahead. We have already started work on other leakages that were on the side of the road."
Even after informing and reminding the authorities and the hydraulic department several times, the leakages remain. BMC provides 3800 MLD water every day to the city. More than 20 per cent of this water goes waste because of the leakages. This ultimately results in water contamination and reduction in water supply tot he affected areas.
Activist Crompton Texeira says if the civic body can let so much water go waste every day, they should provide people water for free. Texeira has been detecting water leakages for more than 15 years; even the BMC has acknowledged his efforts.
