Water theft and contamination

This refers to our consistent complaints to the R-North ward office for water theft.

When the city is facing a rare water shortage in mid monsoon & fears a scanty rainfall, ward no 1 is witness to huge water theft. This was damaging the property of BMC & creating further shortages. Incidentally the crude fashion in which the BMC lines were damaged led to seepage of defecation in the vicinity carried by the rainfall into the BMC lines when the water was shut by the BMC after midnight.

Dirty water seeping back into tapped BMC main water pipe

A lot of residents were falling victim to gastroenteritis as such due to e. coli bacteria.

The New Link Road Residents Forum today morning had a joint site visit of one of the affected site with the Ward Officer Shri Labde & Ex. Eng. The BMC immediately swung into action to disconnect the pilferage & rectify it.

The citizens appreciate the quick response by the BMC to ensure health & safety of the tax paying citizens. The biggest victims of this theft are residents of I C Colony & New Link Road.

We have also requested the BMC to file an FIR & trace the culprits with the help pf Police.

Last year the Forum was successful in getting two such culprits by proactive action by the DCP Dr. Mahesh Patil of Zone 11.

This is our report in the Times of India today 25^th July 2012

Crackdown on pipeline theft at Borivli

Linah Baliga | TNN

Mumbai: Civic workers succeeded in tracing three water pilferage pipes inside a drain in Borivili (West) on Monday, following repeated complaints from the New Link Road Residents’ Forum about water theft near IC Colony in Borivili.

The BMC, along with the proactive forum members, zeroed in on the location of the pilferage, swung into action to sever three illegal pipes and rectified the problem. Cracking down on the pilferage has helped save lakhs of litres of water.

The BMC releases water to Ward Number One in Borivli at midnight through a main one-foot-wide pipeline. This water, though, would get illegally diverted into three plastic pipes inserted inside the pipeline. These pipes would carry the water to the neighbouring Ganpat Patil Nagar slum.

In order to enter the drain, the BMC workers had to break a promenade and then cut the illegal connections.

“The pilferers crawled inside the drain, drilled the BMC main waterline and inserted a pipe into it. One such location was just outside the BMC’s Tukaram Omble Garden at Borivli. Three connections were created out of one pipe there,” said Harish Pandey, chairperson, New Link Road Residents’ Forum.

A civic official from the hydraulic department said, “The damaged mainline will be replaced. We have temporarily plugged the holes.”

Other than add to water shortage woes and fear of further cuts, there were also complaints of gastroenteritis due to water contamination in the locality.

“Incidentally, the crude fashion in which the BMC lines were damaged led to seepage of waste into the main pipeline, which was further abated by rainfall,” said Pandey. “All political parties are aware of water theft but seem to lack the intent to curb this ill. We have requested the BMC to file an FIR and trace the culprits with the help of the police.”

Last year, the forum was successful in ensuring that two such culprits from the water mafia from Mumbai and Thane region were penalized.

CITIZENS FOR THE CITY

Child ‘water monitors’ to help BMC in conservation

Jal Mela Campaign On Cards To Sensitize Mumbaikars

Linah Baliga | TNN 25^th July 2012

    Uncertainty over lake levels and the civic body’s decision to continue with the 10% water cut till August 1 have prompted the BMC officials to rope in unusual soldiers for the cause of water management — children. Towards that end, the city’s kids will function as ‘water monitors’ and tap water wastage in housing societies this monsoon. 
    “The BMC conducted studies and found that in every household, a tap left 
open for a minute leads to 12 litres of water loss, which equals 12 bottles of water; this is a humungous amount. This wastage can only be curbed by roping in students to monitor the wastage not just in their housing societies but individual homes,” said Suprabha Marathe, executive engineer, rainwater harvesting and water conservation cell. 
    Water monitors can voluntarily register with the BMC and inform the civic body about water wastage, theft and tanker mafia, and register their complaints on bmc.watermonitor@gmail.com. 
    “We will felicitate and give awards to children who help conserve water through any method,” said Marathe. 
    In a bid to conserve water till the lake levels overflow, the civic body will also launch a Jal Mela Campaign at the ward level. It will be aimed at sensitizing citizens to use water in an intelligent manner with the aim to improve water management. 
    “One day would be dedicated exclusively to water in each ward, as well as 10 major hospitals and Byculla zoo. It will focus on apprising citizens about the water situation, lake levels, conservation and methods to set up rainwater harvesting plants in their society,” said Marathe. 
    She further said this will also be an informal platform for citizens to discuss all water-related issues in their wards. 
    The campaign would be launched in each ward by a assistant commissioner, assistant engineer (waterworks), complaints officer and a pest control officer. 
    Movies would be shown and presentations made, to be followed by a question and answer session for citizens. Pest control officers would talk about methods to curb malaria. 
    Hoardings on BEST buses, pamphlets, posters and working models of rain water-harvesting will be on display. On August 15, NSS students and kids will be roped in to do prabhat pheri on conservation. The BMC will make it mandatory to print awareness messages on school notebooks. 

TAP THE FLOW 
The BMC’s Jal Mela campaign lists some measures that aware citizens must take to reduce water consumption and wastage 
DO 
Repair leaky faucets and turn taps off tightly; keep an eye out for the slow drip wastage of water Check water meter or bills to see how much water each flat consumes Instal a rainwater harvesting plant in your housing society at a low cost; this water can be used for secondary purpose such as flushing and gardening 
DON’T 
Keep your taps running while brushing, washing hands or shaving Flush toilet unnecessarily Use a shower; instead use a bucket to bathe Instal frontloading washing machine; it consumes 40% more water than a toploading one Use potable water for gardening or washing cars