Mumbai hooked on water tankers

The city’s reliance on tankers for potable water has risen to alarming levels, according to data compiled by the hydraulic department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

As the dwindling water levels are making it difficult for the civic body to distribute piped water to areas located on the fag end of a supply network and in the hilly areas, tankers are being increasingly used to supply drinking water there.

A potable water tanker is now being sought after every seven minutes on an average. The latest data provided by the hydraulic department reveals that the BMC is using services of an average of 79 tankers, which are making 222 trips daily to water-scarce areas.

The data was compiled by the department based on tanker supplies sought in the period between January to mid-April this year.

A senior hydraulic department official said that the tanker dependence had further increased in May owing to the repair work being undertaken on the underground water tunnel at Malad, which has been bleeding ever since parts of it were damaged due to illegal digging of a borewell near Marve Road.

During the three-and-a half month period, tankers made 21,506 trips to supply municipal water, senior hydraulic department officials said.

The tankers make these trips on the basis of directions by the civic hydraulic department officials and assistant commissioners of various city wards. These officers place demands on the basis of complaints of short or no piped supply received from the residential areas.

The tanker supplies during this period have cost the BMC Rs2.5 crore, a senior official added.

The eastern suburban belt from Kurla to Trombay is the most dependent on tanker water. The average daily water tanker demand from this region is close to 100, civic officials said.

A senior engineer said that many residential areas in this part are located based on a hilly terrain. “Supplying piped water to these areas becomes difficult when levels at the service reservoirs are low. Many slum colonies in these localities have been set up without adequate infrastructure arrangements,” he said.

Central suburban areas, including Elphinstone, Parel, Dadar, come second, requiring 50 tankers daily. High dependence of tanker supplies is also seen in the residential belts in Andheri, and areas from Malad to Dahisar in the western suburbs.