Your tap is the answer to city’s water woes

With World Water Day round the corner, the sheriff plans to launch a campaign to plug leaky water taps and pipes to end Mumbai’s constant battle for water

MUMBAI: What better way to observe World Water Day on Sunday than to launch a water conservation action plan? Mumbai sheriff Indu Shahani, the Eureka Forbes Institute of Environment, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Plumbers’ Association will together launch the 'Fix Leaking Taps' campaign in the presence of actor Rani Mukherji.

“The city cries for water and the crunch is felt badly, not just because of shortage in water supply, but also due to constant leakages,” Shahani told DNA.

The city at present has a water supply of 3,350 million litres per day (MLD) while its requirement is 4,150 MLD. About 600 million litres are lost to leakages and thefts. Although the BMC plans to work on the secondary network to plug leakages, there is no concentrated effort to plug leakages in households, where large quantities of clean water are wasted. It’s the same water for which the BMC spends crores for purification.

According to Rudolf D’Souza, trustee of the Eureka Forbes Institute of Environment, any leakage that wastes 15 drops of water per minute amounts to one litre of clean water wasted per hour. “People don’t understand that even 20 litres of water wasted can meet the needs of a nucleus family's drinking water needs,” D’Souza said. “People ignore leakages as they don’t have the inclination to save water.”

Through the launch of this campaign, the Eureka Forbes Institute of Environment expects to save a million litres of water per day and also provide for professional, licensed plumbing help. The institute is funding the campaign as part of its corporate social responsibility. It is expected to spend Rs75,000 every month at the beginning of the campaign.
As part of the campaign, a helpline and three plumbing stations will be set up in different parts of the city. “The helpline will work from 8am to 8pm and will cater to all complaints,” D’Souza said. The plumbing stations will be set up in Chandanwadi (South Mumbai), Vile Parle (western suburbs), and Mulund (eastern suburbs).

Citizens worried about leaking taps can call the helpline or complain at the stations, and help will reach them at a nominal Rs100 per visit. The attendants on the helpline will accept complaints and also advise people against spending money unnecessarily. “If they think the complainant has a tap of a particular brand, which provides a guarantee, and the complainant is not aware of it, then his complaint will be forwarded to the helpdesk of the company concerned or the complainant will be informed,” said D’Souza.

There will be a force of 600 licensed plumbers employed in the city. “There are in all 5,000 plumbers in the city, but not all are professionals,” said Deepak Daiye, general secretary of the licensed plumbers’ association. “People get water leakages repaired from unprofessional plumbers and so the problems persist,” he explained.

Daiye will be working closely with the Eureka Forbes Institute in the campaign. “We believe in the motto, ‘save water to have water’,” he said. “Also, through this campaign the plumbers can get employment and residents a good source of help. More plumbers with professional degrees can join us after seeking a licence.”

Hall of shame

Mumbai's poor water distribution network also finds a mention in the World Bank report presented in 2001. The report rates the city as the second worst performer behind joint leader Delhi and Chennai in terms of hours of water available per day among 27 Asian cities with a population of over 1 lakh.

Reasons for the water problem
* An aging water network
* Water theft
* Unmetered water connections
* Lenghty water distribution network (4,000 km)
* Manpower shortage to detect and plug leakages
* Unreliable plumbers and contractors

The 24x7 dream lives on

The BMC is keen to provide 24x7 water supply to Mumbaikars by 2012. It has chalked out Sujal Mumbai, a mission to correct the wrongs in the water distribution network. The mission includes augmenting the supply of water to meet future needs, and the demand and supply management of water.

The BMC is also surveying two reservoirs, Gargi and Pinjal, to tap another 1,320 mid of water for the city. To avoid wastage, there are plans to bill consumers, and housing societies, based on their water usage.

Also, there will be universal metering of all connections. To make up for the shortage of manpower for addressing leakages, the BMC has appointed zone-wise contractors.

s_ashutosh@dnaindia.net

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