No water woes for city next year
Mumbai: IF there’s one good thing that’s come out of this year’s monsoon, it’s this. Thanks to the heavy showers that Mumbai and its surrounding areas have received in the last few months, all the lakes—Bhatsa, Modak Sagar (Vaitarna), Tansa and Pise—providing water to Mumbai are overflowing.
And if the showers continue till mid-September, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) says it will help speeden upcoming projects that could, by March next year, put an end to Mumbai’s immediate water woes. ‘‘Every year, we record a total of 2,200 mm to 2,500 mm of rain during the monsoon. This year, we have another fortnight to go, and we have already crossed the 2,900-mm mark,’’ explained Executive Engineer (Operations) P M Guhe.
Watching the water gush out of the 38 dam gates at the Modak Sagar (Vaitarna) catchment—90-odd km from Mumbai, the lake in Shahpur district is surrounded by lush, green foliage—it’s easy to see why Guhe is excited.
‘‘If the rainwater reaches this mark every year,’’ he added, ‘‘our Upper Vaitarna, Gargai and Pinjar projects will take care of Mumbai’s water woes for the next 30 years.’’
By March 2007, the Bhatsa River Project will add around 455 million litres a day (MLD) to the Pise river, which already supplies around 1,600 MLD of water to Mumbai.
This project has been running late—it was scheduled to take off in December this year—and has also exceeded its original cost, from the Rs 1,200 crore estimated earlier to Rs 1,800 crore now.
‘‘Administration glitches and a long wait for clearances caused the delay,’’ said Nitin Kulkarni, assistant engineer of Pise Pumping Station. ‘‘But now, we will definitely start in March.’’
The Rs 1,800-crore Middle Vaitarna project that will add another 450 MLD of water to Mumbai will take approximately five years to take off. ‘‘We have started rehabilitating around 750 people and are waiting for environmental clearances,’’ said Guhe.
The BMC’s also awaiting the Power and Energy Ministry’s nod to its proposal of setting up a power generation plant at the Middle Vaitarna site.
On course
* Also in the pipeline are the Gargai and Pinjar projects that will add 450 MLD and 500 MLD respectively to Mumbai’s water supply. Both projects, however, will only be functional after more than 10 years.
* While the Gargai project is expected to take 10 years—a survey is on and the project feasibility report has to be submitted by 2007—the Pinjar project is still in the discussion stage. It’s likely to take another 15 years.
* ‘‘Both the projects will certainly be in place by 2030. This is in keeping with the recommendations made by the Chitale Committee report on water demand projections for Mumbai,’’ said Executive Engineer (Operations) P M Guhe.
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