Watery Divisions

It's ironical. Ordinary Mumbaikars are reeling under a severe water crisis and the city's municipal body has already reduced supply by 10 per cent this summer. Yet, Mumbai is being inundated by water-guzzling mega structures that include amusement and water parks, hotels and fancy bungalows. Just the two dozen existing water parks in Mumbai and adjoining areas like Thane and Raigad use over 50 billion litres of water every day. Of this, Esselworld's Water Kingdom, which is spread over 24 acres, gets over 7 billion litres.

"This (water used by the parks) is twice the supply to the whole of Mumbai," says Susheila Cardozo, director, Stree Shakti Sadan, an organisation that works with the fishing community. "We don't have water to drink, but others are dancing in it." The problem can only get worse, especially in the north-western suburbs. These are areas that are witnessing a boom in high-rise complexes, hotels, clubs, more water parks, and bungalows with swimming pools, that are rented out for film shootings.

"All this, while local residents yearn even for drinking water," says Vidya Chavan, president, Mumbai Janata Dal. The entire stretch of villages from Versova to Madh and Gitanagar in Colaba get only a trickle for an hour between 2 and 4 in the morning. "Even this has been dwindling over the past few months. Earlier, the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) used to send a tanker in two days. But now there isn't one in even eight days in Madh and surrounding villages," says Krishna Koli, president, Harbadevi Macchimar Sahakar Saunstha.

Obviously, this unfair supply system has led to allegations of a nexus between officials, politicians and water mafias. Locals say that water meant for their villages is siphoned off to the urban guzzlers. An example: the Madh village church was used to construct an underground tank. "But the water goes to the rich outside the village," says Cardozo. In another case, the BMC claims it spent Rs 47 lakh to supply water to Gorai village. But the residents allege they haven't received even a drop.

In Borivali, local politicians make money through illegal water connections. Although BMC engineers have cut them off a few times, they invariably come back. And, in Malad, a cartel of slumlords sells drinking water to residents, hotels and other institutions by accessing it through "leakages" in the distribution pipelines. In fact, of the supply of 204 litres per person per day, less than 140 litres reach the residents. The rest is stolen by the water mafias.

The BMC maintains there is no shortage of water in the city. It contends that an average Mumbaikar gets more water than the national standard of 150 litres per person per day. And Sudhir Thakre, director (water supply and sanitation), BMC, says that its distribution is equitable and all the areas are supplied evenly for about two to four hours a day. Adds a state official, "Citizens should also find solutions themselves instead of blaming us for everything."

For instance rain harvesting, which is commonly used in rural areas but not in Mumbai. When the Mira-Bhayandar area in the north-west was developed, it was understood that builders would have to provide alternate water sources like wells.

"Why have the buyers not insisted on this while buying the flats?" asks the official. Anand Deodhar, hydraulic engineer, BMC, adds that sparse monsoons in the past three years and huge population influx have only added to the problem.

The best solution would be to change the existing 3,000-km pipeline since a third of it requires repairs or replacement. But that's a very slow process since one needs to dig 7-8 feet to reach the pipes. For now, the solution lies in breaking the water mafia cartel. Until that happens, the issue of water shortage will continue to plague Mumbai And the city is sure to witness yet another hellish summer of discontent.