Mumbai, Thane and other areas to receive less water from tomorrow onwards; Here are details

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday announced that 10 per cent water cut will be imposed in Mumbai from December 1 to 5.

"The pneumatic gate system installed at Pise, which supplies water to BMC has malfunctioned today (30th November 2024). The repair work of this gate will be done between 1st December to 2nd December 2024.
Due to this work, 10% water cut will be imposed in the Mumbai City and Suburbs during 1st December to 5th December 2024," said the civic body in a statement.


"Water supply by BMC to Thane & Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation will also get affected during 1st December to 5th December 2024 & 10% water cut will be imposed. All citizens are requested to use water judiciously and co-operate the municipal administration," added BMC in its statement.

Water to Mumbai city and suburbs is primarily sourced from the Vaitarna dam.

Last month, the civic body announced a 5-10 per cent water cut across Mumbai from October 17 to October 18 citing a glitch in a valve on a pipeline in Thane district. A BMC release said that a 900-mm valve of the Vaitarna pipeline at Tarali in the neighbouring district has malfunctioned, necessitating the partial shutdown of the water supply system.

BJP recently attacked Thackerayed over low water pressure received by several parts of country's financial capital.

"In the last 10 years no new dam was constructed by the civic body nor was any new arrangement made. On the contrary, the Gargai Dam project was scrapped and a plan to desalinate sea water was initiated. However, even the desalination project could not see completion," BJP leader Shelar said.

Notably, the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray controlled the BMC for 25 consecutive years between 1997 to 2022. Shelar's BJP was also an alliance partner of the Sena for a significant period of time.

In the 1990s, a committee led by Madhavrao Chitale proposed building of three new dams for Mumbai, namely Gargai, Pinjal and Middle Vaitarna, Shelar said. The Middle Vaitarna was completed in 2014 but since then no new project was taken up, he pointed out.

He said work on planning permissions for Gargai Dam began but the project was scrapped when Thackeray was state environment minister.

In order to benefit contractors, an expensive desalination plant project was undertaken at a cost of Rs 4,400 crore, which later escalated to Rs 8,000 crore, the BJP leader alleged.