Damaged tunnel has been fully repaired, says BMC, in a little over half the estimated time
The repaired tunnel
The water tunnel—that had been punctured on November 8 last year—has finally been fully repaired. Water supply to the city will be restored 100 per cent from April 23, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has confirmed.
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“We completed repairing the tunnel on Tuesday. From Wednesday, we will start recharging the tunnel. After getting a sufficient level of water, supply from the tunnel will start. It will take three to four days more,” an official said. “The repair work and water supply restoration had been estimated to take 30 days. However, the work will be completed in 18 days and water supply restored from April 23,” the official added further.
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The repair work being carried out
How tunnel was repaired
Explaining how repairing was done, an official said, “Water leakage was stopped by placing packers and special grouting inside the damaged spots. Internal repairs were completed with packers and steel plates. After that, a 100-metre deep borewell at Wagle Estate, Thane, was closed by pouring a special mixture of cement and sand”.
According to the report, BMC’s 15-km-long water tunnel had got punctured at Thane while a private developer was digging a borewell. This caused a leakage of 3 million litres of water daily. Water supply from the tunnel was stopped on March 31 and diverted to the 2750 dia Vaitarna main, 2750 dia Upper Vaitarna main, and 3000 dia Tansa replacement water mains. Due to the repair work the city had been getting 15 percent less water than the daily supply, which is 3,850 million litres. “Although we have started charging the tunnel, it will not affect the current water supply,” said an official.
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