City may face 35% water cut next week

MUMBAI: With two major pipelines, which supply water to the city, either ruptured or leaking, citizens may have to brace themselves for dry taps till early next week. Though the civic officials are trying to take up repairs on the Malad tunnel and fix the leaks in the Tansa pipeline at Bhiwandi simultaneously, they say that there will be no option but to impose a 35% cut.
We are working out the logistics to see how to carry out the work at the same time. We are looking at keeping 24-36 hours aside for the repair. In this period, we will have to impose a cut, but we can be sure that it wont cross 35%, said Vinay Deshpande, civic hydraulic engineer. We are working out a schedule to allow repair on the two sites simultaneously. Though we have still not decided when this will happen, it will be some time early next week as both works are urgent, he added.
Meanwhile, officials have warned that the summer may herald a difficult time for Mumbaikars, though there are no plans to extend the cut during the hot months. We will continue our supply of 2, 900 million litres per day (mld). However, the citizens will be forced to use water judiciously. In case the monsoon is delayed this year, there will be a problem, said Deshpande.