After air, now even water is polluted

According to the Environment Status Report for 1998-99, the first organised survey of its kind undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 16 per cent of the water samples tested over the last year in the 23 civic wards were found to be contaminated. The incidence of contamination was worst at Byculla and Sandhurst Road, at 23 per cent. It also found that 14 per cent of supply in the western suburbs and 12 per cent in the eastern suburbs was unfit for consumption. The findings were based on 6,8349 water samples from across the city.

Far from the time when the British, who had laid the first pipelines in the 1850s, water supply today is unfit for human consumption in several localities. Initially, the 32-inch pipelines spanned 14 miles, carrying potable water from Vihar lake to the city. In the 1870s, the Malabar Hill reservoir was built and new pipes were connected to the existing ones. Slowly, with the Bhandarwala reservoir at Mazagaon, the network in the city’s underbelly grew.

Mumbai now boasts of 3,000 km of water mains (which excludes the smaller, connecting pipelines) which are fed by the six lakes in Mumbai and Thane. About 1,000 km of pipelines lies in the island city itself. However, unlike then, when the mains were scraped and cleaned every five years, the civic administration lapsed into apathy. Hence, corroded and perforated in several places, the pipelines carrying potable water now carry rust, sewage from leaking adjacent pipes and other debris.

Admitting that the corrosion is getting out of hand, S L Soni, hydraulic engineer with the BMC’s Water Works Department, says: “We are studying different systems that will be suitable to check this. These pipes are very old and yet they carry water supply round-the-clock. We are trying to figure out how we can check the damage without digging up the entire place.”

He adds: “To isolate the corroding pipes we shall have to dig a tunnel from Parel to Mahalaxmi and then Malabar Hill, which will be very tough. We are working out a method to detect leaks and carry out repairs. A sample survey will soon be undertaken for this purpose. Once the modalities of these surveys are worked out, the work will begin.”

The first incident of water contamination due to pipe corrosion took place at Chandanwadi in `C’ Ward in 1992, following which a committee was set up under the chairmanship of former municipal commissioner B G Deshmukh.

A September 1999 report on `The water delivery system of the city’ by Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action, a non-governmental organisation which works on various civic and hosuing issues, states that the `communication pipes’ (pipes that connect the consumer to the water mains) will also have to be replaced. The life of these pipes, numbering a staggering 2.95 lakh, extends from 10 to 12 years and most of them have already reached that age.

BOX
Malabar Hill
Since August 1998, residents of Shanti Apartments and Vithal Niwas in Malabar Hill received bacteria-infested, foul-smelling water coming out of their taps. Laboratory tests showed high iron content. In January 1999, the BMC discovered that the pipeline under Walkeshwar Road was damaged.

Byculla
For three months since June this year, residents of seven buildings on Clare Road in Byculla received sewer water seeping through the water pipelines

Nana Chowk
In August 1999, a main pipeline at Nana Chowk sprung a leak, submerging surrounding localities. While the BMC repaired the old pipeline, A, C and D wards went without regular water supply for days