TOI : State of the Environment : Sept 11, 2007
A New Report Lists The Setbacks And Successes In Efforts To Improve Mumbai’s
Eco-Balance Water supply shows 9% contamination
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
South Mumbai residents may be the envy of their suburban counterparts
but there is one area where the island city takes a beating. The quality of
water in many of areas of tony South Mumbai is far worse than the water in
the suburbs.
As per the BMC’s latest Environment Status Report (ESR), wards A
(Colaba, Churchgate, Nariman Point, Fort), B (Nagpada), C (Marine Lines,
Girgaum, Bhuleshwar), E (Byculla, Mazgaon) have the most contaminated water
supply with contamination levels of over 11% in each area.
The reason, of course, is the over a century old water pipeline system
in the island city. Due to intermittent water supply, foul water seeps into
these decrepit pipelines during non-supply hours through leaks, tampered
mains and faulty fittings. The only area in the suburbs which has a similar
degree of contamination is the S ward (Bhandup).
These findings have emerged from a regular testing of end user water
quality. In the year 2006-07, BMC had tested 37,712 water samples; of these
3,413, ie 9.05% were found to be contaminated. The level of contamination
ranged from 3.99% in the R/south ward (Kandivli west) to a high of 15.49 %
in C ward. The contamination is mainly bacterial in nature.
If it is any relief, the general quantity of samples unfit for drinking
has reduced from an average of 13.57 % last year. The report attributed this
improvement to the measures taken by the BMC such as mortar lining of old
water mains over a length of 50 kms.
“One of the reasons for the improvement in water quality is the work of
replacement and rehabilitation of water pipelines which we started off last
year. As part of this Rs 253-crore work, we have already attended many water
pipelines in the problem areas in wards such as C and E. In fact, we are
expecting the water quality to improve further next year,” said hydraulic
engineer MM Kamble.
Bacterial Trail
Ward | % of unfit water samples found
C (Marine Lines) | 15.49% E (Byculla) | 14.77% A (Fort, Colaba) | 13.74% S
(Bhandup) | 13.68% B (Mohammad Ali road) | 11.65% R/Central (Borivli west) |
10.86% P/South (Goregaon west) | 10.69% H/East (Bandra-S’cruz east) | 10.28%
PLUGGING THE GAP: The supply system is creaking