WD NEWS: The residents of Panvel are gearing up to ring in the new year with water woes. Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has announced a one-day water cut every week in the city, starting from the new year. The residents, however, are worried about how the situation will proceed further.
Water cuts are a regular feature of the region. Located next to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) area, which has water supply in abundance, thanks to the civic body-owned Morbe dam. Water cut, this year, has been announced a month earlier than usual, leading to worries for the residents.
The weekly one-day water cut will be implemented Monday to Friday as per water tank location area – Gangaram theatre, Market Yard, vegetable market, Patel Mohalla and Thana Naka. There will not be water cuts on Saturdays and Sundays.
Panvel’s daily water need is between 30-32 mld. PCMC sources 15 mld from MJP and 5 mld from MIDC. The remaining requirement is sourced from PCMC-owned Dehrang dam. Dehrang dam capacity, however, has been reducing over the years due to accumulation of silt. This leads to the dam running dry early and increases PCMC’s dependency on MJP and MIDC.
Hence, for the past few years, PCMC has been taking measures to reduce the acute water shortage in summer by announcing water cuts before the situation worsens. They are in place till June 15. The decision is usually taken in January, but this year it has come early. The announcement was made through a public notice.
“We are taking precautionary measures to reduce the hardships that residents have to face in summer. The tank area wise water cut will be in place till the start of monsoon,” said PCMC commissioner, Ganesh Deshmukh.
Explaining the reason for the cut, a water department official said, “The laying of water pipeline in the Phase 3 of Nhava Sheva water supply project, that supplies water from MJP and MIDC, is in progress. The work that has been going on for the past year and a half, requires regular electrical and breakdown shutdowns affecting water supply.”
He further added, “MJP draws less water from Patalganga river on Sunday and Monday due to shut down. Regular shutdowns by MJP and MIDC in the coming months will only add to the burden. PCMC depends for around 18 mld from other sources and it also leads to additional drawing from Dehrang dam. The cut will help reduce this burden.”
The residents are obviously not pleased. “There is still six months to go for the monsoon and we already have a water cut. For years, the residents have been suffering due to water shortage but all we have got are assurances,” said Atul Jaitpal, 40, a resident.
He added that it was high time authorities found ways to source enough water throughout the year.
Source: Hindustan Times
image courtesy: Freepik
