Civic body sets ball rolling for cloud seeding plan

A dip in lake levels had forced the civic administration to prepare contingency plans to meet the 53-per cent rain deficit in the island city and 24-per cent deficit in suburbs recorded since June 1. The BMC has already announced a 10 per cent water cut till August 1. “At present we have water stock for 124 days. If we continue to receive good rainfall,we may not have to consider this expensive method,” Adtani said.

The BMC is also working on a plan to ensure proper flow at the fag ends of the water supply chain. There are over 100 spots at extreme ends that receive water at a very low pressure. Adtani said apart from acquiring 784 private wells with the Collector’s help,the corporation would also use water tankers for supply to the hilly areas.

The civic body had,last week,directed its ward officers to collect information about wells in each ward. “So far,we have received information from 16 wards. As many as 223 public wells and 207 borewells are usable while 58 are in bad condition. We will use suction pumps in wells with less water.”

As many as 282 of the 338 private wells surveyed in 16 wards are usable. The civic body had,in 2009,used 971 wells to tide over a 30-per cent water cut. At least 125 of the 649 borewells and 145 of the 311 handpump wells in these 16 wards are not in a working condition.

The useful water content in six lakes supplying water to the city is 3,78,672 million litres,almost half of 6.08,365 million litres recorded on July 25 last year. The next few days could be critical though civic officials maintain that water in lakes has not dipped to alarming levels.

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