Rs 250-cr project to fix leaking water pipes

Mumbai: The city may soon have a solution to the problem of turbid tap water
and water-borne diseases. By end October, the BMC will start work on a Rs
250 crore project that will take care of leaky pipelines in Mumbai.

    The BMC has budgeted Rs 354 crore for a massive project to replace or
rehabilitate (line old water mains with cement mortar) most of the leaky
pipelines in the city over a period of two years. Twenty tenders for phase
one of the project have already been floated. On Wednesday, the civic
standing committee is set to pass proposals for carrying out the work in and
around areas like Colaba, Marine Lines and Grant Road in the city and Bandra
(W), Khar (W), Santa Cruz (W), Andheri, Vile Parle, Malad (W) and Borivli
(W) in the western suburbs. "Proposals for the remaining areas will soon
follow. We want to get proposals approved before the code of conduct for the
2007 civic elections comes into force,'' said chief hydraulic engineer D
Kajbaje.

    The civic water audit figures for 2005-06 show that 13.57% of the total
water samples tested were contaminated with the contamination level being
the highest in areas like Borivli, Byculla, Colaba and Fort. Taps spouting
unpotable water has been a constant at homes in Mumbai especially in the
island city which has a pipeline network as old as 150 years.

    This, despite the fact that the BMC's treatment plants produce filtered
water of a standard that is far better than the standards set by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). For
instance, as per WHO and BIS standards, the permissible turbidity level is
10 NTU and 5 NTU respectively while BMC's treated water has a turbidity
level of 0.4 NTU.

    "The water that finally reaches the end consumer is often unpotable as
all along the distribution system there are leakages and illegal tapping.
Further, in areas where water is supplied for a few hours a day, the vacuum
that is created inside the pipeline during the non-supply hours sucks in the
polluted ground water and sewage inside the pipelines,'' explained a civic
official.

    The distribution network in Mumbai comprises a total of 4,000 km of
pipes of various diameters ranging from 150 mm to 450 mm. Of this, the BMC
had replaced water mains totalling 11 km and carried out mortar lining on
another 145 km till last year. TNN

SCARY NUMBERS

Percentage of water samples found to be contaminated 13.57 Oldest pipeline
in island city 150 years The length of the city's water distribution network
4,000 km.


URL :
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzA5LzI4I0FyMDA5MDE=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom