Mumbai: Corporators on Monday highlighted the impact of the water crisis on the city during the general body meeting and sought details from the administration on the measures in place to ensure supply if there is no or insufficient rainfall in the coming weeks.BJP leader of the House Ganesh Khankar said a separate water reuse master plan should be prepared to identify the purposes for which recycled water can be used and the quantities required for each use. Khankar also demanded an audit of all buildings that have been granted occupation certificates (OCs) and are required to have rainwater harvesting systems. The group leader said priority should be given to using recycled water for garden maintenance, road cleaning, construction projects, industrial applications, flushing systems and other non-potable requirements.Opposition corporators pointed out that citizens are facing difficulties due to not only a reduction in water supply timings, but also low pressure. They also sought rejuvenation of wells. BMC Additional Commissioner Abhijit Bangar admitted that citizens are facing difficulties due to the drop in water pressure. “We are trying to increase the number of water tankers by hiring additional ones to supply water to areas experiencing more than a 10% water cut. The civic body has started disconnecting water supply to swimming pools, construction connections and car-washing centres. Besides, civic squads are carrying out inspections of these places. We have not banned the use of groundwater by car-washing centres so far, but we may have to impose a ban,” Bangar said.Bangar further said the BMC has started the rejuvenation of wells. On the issue of leakages, Bangar said that every year, 1% of the water pipeline network is replaced. “We are planning the replacement of pipelines for next year, including floating tenders during this monsoon itself,” Bangar added.
