TMC drew 203MLD excess water over 3 years: Report

28th July, 2018

Thane: The Thane Municipal Corporation TMC received 203 million litres of excess water supply over the last three years which experts say could possibly be equal to the daily consumption of a city like Kalyan-Dombivli or Vasai-Virar with a population between 12-13 lakh.

A report prepared by the civic water supply department recently to understand the demand and supply scenario in the city shows 480 million litres per day (MLD) water was supplied to the city in 2015 when the demand was 390MLD resulting in excess of 70MLD. In the subsequent year, an extra supply of around 74MLD was registered when the demand shown is 406MLD and supply increased to 480MLD. Interestingly, this is the same phase when the city had faced a water crisis situation due to insufficient rains.

The volume of excess water dropped to 59MLD last year as the supply volume remained the same, but demand increased to 421MLD, said the report reading.

The demand-supply ratio, said civic officials, was worked out based on the population rise in the city and as per the mandate of the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization to provide nearly 150 litres per capita in an urban settlement. Experts have further calculated this volume and deduced the stock to be able to cater to the needs of nearly 12-13 lakh residents.

The water supply reports are likely to be presented to the state government that will analyze the water consumption patterns of various urban areas of the state, said an official.

However, despite this high supply volume received by the civic body, several parts of the city continue to witness water shortage while others get abundant water supply throughout the day. Activists and residents have called for an immediate audit of the network to plug leakages and ensure supply reaches everyone in the city.

“There is a serious lapse in the water supply distribution network of the civic body and the administration is simply not ready to take up any corrective action. There is no account of where this huge volume of water is being sent to or consumed but it seems the honest tax payers are unnecessarily bearing the brunt. Despite paying taxes regularly, we do not get adequate water supply,” complained a resident.

Meanwhile, the difference in the income and expenditure of the water supply department has also been inflating over the last three years, reveal records. As per the documents accessed by TOI, the losses incurred by the department vis-a-vis the income-expenditure pattern was Rs 20 crore in 2015, which gradually rose to Rs 30 crore in 2017.

We receive nearly 485MLD, but are not in a position to calculate which area has got how much water supply over the day. We have initiated the process to install consumption meters for domestic connections so that we can gauge the quantum of usage and losses,” said a senior official from the water supply department.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com