Mumbai: Rise in demand for tanker water may hit railway colonies

A Central Railway water recycling plant

Railway colonies in Mumbai have been facing water problems in recent times and the situation may deteriorate as tanker water is in high demand.

The RPF colony at Mulund has been facing an intermittent water issue over the past few days despite it receiving civic pipeline and bore well water. "We have a parallel supply, hence the problem is not felt that much, but there has been a dip in supply," a resident official said.

The Central Railway (CR) colony at Dadar also faces similar problems.

On Western Railway (WR), at the Bandra colony, residents are mostly dependent on water tankers as the BMC's supply had been erratic due to administrative issues among other things. "We have been getting a consistent tanker water supply and the water cut may not affect us directly," an official said.

South Mumbai colonies and railway stations on both lines have been dependent on tanker water and bulk contracts have been signed in this regard, which reduces the risk of water cuts. However, now with the rise in demand for tanker water from regular housing societies, the supply of water could be impacted. At present, 1,800 tankers operate in Mumbai and each of these tankers can hold 10,000 litres of water.

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Railways also require water to clean coaches and for other amenities in yards and workshops. CR has 32 water treatment plants to treat sewage and effluents, which process more than one crore litre of water every day. This is a sustainable solution to the growing water crisis while eliminating the discharge of polluted water into the environment.

On WR, an effluent treatment plant with a capacity of one million litres per day has already been commissioned at Bandra Terminus. Wastewater treated here will be used for the washing of coaches and other activities. For water conservation, meters have been installed at various places on the premises to ensure proper record-keeping of water consumption.

1,800
No. of tankers that operate in Mumbai