City begins saving for a rainy day

MUMBAI: Faced with an unprecedented water shortage, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday ordered individual ward offices to start temporarily cutting off supplies to under-construction buildings, jacuzzis and municipal and private gardens and swimming pools. Orders were also given to reduce supplies to hotels and clubs.
With data readily available on under-construction buildings, the civic body began targeting them first.Water supplies to 32 sites were snapped within hours of the extreme measures being announced. Various reasons, like outstanding arrears, were cited.
"We have no choice but to ration supplies and, as part of that, we want to temporarily discourage usage in non-priority areas, like swimming pools, car washing, clubs and so on,'' said Jairaj Phatak, Mumbai municipal commissioner. "We hope to save about 200 mld from the drive,'' said Pramod Charankar, deputy municipal commissioner.
An under-construction site at Prakash Pethe Marg, Colaba, was the first to bear the brunt. The developer of the building was informed that due to the serious water crisis his connection was being temporarily disconnected. "Once the orders are issued from the top, we have no choice but to snap connections. Where is the question of taking into account legal or humanitarian issues?'' said a ward official.
Seven-day warning notices were also delivered to as many as 80 developers, threatening them of action in case of misuse of water. At the time of going to press, many more such notices were in the process of being formulated.
Owners of jacuzzis, clubs, gardens and pools remained unaffected on the first day of the drive as officials were still busy compiling information on their numbers and usage.
With the 30% cut announced on Monday and lake levels dipping, the BMC early on Tuesday issued the circular to its wards with five simple instructions. Cut supply to new constructions, gardens, jacuzzis and swimming pools, and tweak supply to star hotels and clubs. Wards have also been asked to plug leakages on a warfooting.
Within hours, ward offices swung into action even though confusion prevailed on how to go about the exercise. "We are not sure whether to snap all supplies to construction sites or just what is being given for drinking purposes. Furthermore, on legal and humanitarian grounds, should they be given a warning? As of now, we have put on priority those buildings which have for months not paid their arrears or have delayed payment of water charges,'' said an official.
The idea of the plan is to shield domestic users and hold back some supply from commercial and industrial users. Sixty-eight private pools use 1.5 million litres a day (mld) and 77 connections to star hotels use 55 mld.
According to civic estimates, there are 2,080 connections to under-construction sites. Each are charged a flat rate depending on the size of the connection. For example, a connection that has a pipe of 15 mm size is charged Rs 3,500 per month.