10 July,2017 07:56 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The promise of supplying 24/7 water to citizens of Mumbai is still a long way off. The project, which began in 2014 to provide uninterrupted water supply to Mumbai by 2019, is moving at a snail's pace
The promise of supplying 24/7 water to citizens of Mumbai is still a long way off. The water development improvement project (WDIP) is currently being carried out at T (Mulund) and H/West (Bandra) wards of Mumbai and was supposed to be completed by March 2018. However, the promises are only on paper. In reality, the situation is different.
The project, which began in 2014 to provide uninterrupted water supply to Mumbai by 2019, is moving at a snail's pace.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, currently, about 10% of Mumbai's population, in Ghatkopar, Bhandup and Mulund receive uninterrupted water supply with each household getting four hours of water. The BMC had hoped that if the pilot project was successful, it would provide round-the-clock water supply to citizens four years from now.
"Why has the WDIP's progress been kept a secret? Consultants have been working on it for more than four years, with no results. The BMC still doesn't know which areas in the ward have poor water supply," the national daily quoted Asif Zakaria, Congress corporator from H-west ward, as saying.
As far as Mumbai rains are concerned, an official from the BMC said the city has received average rainfall in the month of June, easing water woes. He said that stock in seven reservoirs which supplies water to the city has touched their highest level this time as compared to the last three years.
"It means that catchment areas have received decent rainfall over the last few days," he said adding that the water stock in lakes were 4.5 lakh million litre on June 30 this year, while it was 1.09 lakh million litre in 2016 and 3.5 lakh ml in 2015 respectively.
