Plugging the leak

After four days of gruelling work,the civic administration was finally able to restore normal water supply in South Mumbai on Sunday.

After four days of gruelling work,the civic administration was finally able to restore normal water supply in South Mumbai on Sunday. After a major underground water pipeline burst near Nana Chowk,the BMC had been trying to detect the source of the leakage for past four days and had to cut off the water supply,causing inconvenience to the residents of South Mumbai. The source of the problem was found between the 90-year-old,57-inch Tansa pipeline between Grant Road and Nana Chowk Junction.

An official from the hydraulic engineer department of BMC said,We have been detecting various leaks in the Tansa pipelines as they are very old and rusted. Frequent leakages have led to isolation of water supply in many parts of South Mumbai over the past week. While we have repaired the pipeline,the trenches need to be covered again,which might take some time.

Parts of South Mumbai,including Tardeo zone comprising Haji Ali,Tulsiwadi,Sane Guruji Marg,Tardeo Road,Sleater Road,Nair Hospital,Kasturba Hospital,Western Railway having Mahalaxmi Yard,Mahalaxmi Railway Station,Mumbai Central Railway Station and Grant Road Railway Station,had been severely affected.

The civic administration also finished work of reparing a leakage outside the Sion Hospital on Saturday,which they were able to detect after two months of survey. There is a 12-inch pipeline which had been causing leakage for the past few months,but all our attempts to detect it had failed. As the surface of the road was dry we could not identify the spot of leakage, said the official.

A few months ago,the BMC had said it will soon launch a massive project on the rehabilitation of underground water pipelines,wherein the major portions of the 6,000-km underground pipeline network,which is damaged,will be repaired in a way that roads need not be excavated and without disrupting water supply.

This was after a 15-day project in September to detect water leakages found that 40 lakh litres of water is wasted each day. The report also found that the city has about 650 leakage points in pipelines.

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