Mumbai: Repair work of punctured tunnel delayed, BMC to pump out 200 million litres of water

The dewatering work on with pumps at the tunnel at Kapurbawdi, Thane

The repairs of the tunnel punctured while a borewell was being dug on February 8, will only start after another week, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have to pump out nearly 200 million litres of water from it. It is only when the tunnel is completely dry that engineers and the contractor will be able to work in it. This will take at least eight more days. Already Mumbai is facing a 15 per cent water cut and this means Mumbaikars will have to wait longer for normal water supply to be restored.

The city has lost around 16 per cent of its water from its daily consumption due to this puncture. Since February 8 when the tunnel was punctured, Mumbai has lost 450 million litres of water. Now there is a need to pump out around 200 million litres water from the tunnel. The total loss of water will hence be 650 million litres. Under normal circumstances, the supply of water to the city is 3,850 million litres.

The tunnel is being dewatered by 10 pumps with 100 horsepower capacity

"'We have started the first phase of repairing from March 31. We are dewatering the tunnel with the use of 10 pumps with 100 horsepower capacity. It is estimated that there is around 200 million liters of water stored in this 15-km long tunnel. We need to dewater all this water before work can start," said a BMC official. "Our team is working round the clock, but it will take at least 8 days to get the tunnel dry. Currently, there are 50 workers working on site under the observation of engineers," he added.

All that water wasted

"This is the raw water of the river which is brought directly from the dams of the Vaitarna basin. We are throwing it in the natural drain near Kapurbawdi," said an official. Another official further said, "To repair the tunnel, a team of experts and workers will enter it with heavy machinery. Before that, we need to make it completely dry, only then repairs will start. We have already appointed an expert contractor for repair. Our engineer will work with his team. We will also have to provide ventilation in the tunnel as it is 100 meters below ground. All precautions will have to be taken before actual repair work starts."

Also read: Mumbai: Chandivali society left to lurch as BMC ‘fails to inform' about water cut

While digging the borewell at the proposed IT park at Plot number C-30, road number 16 In Wagle Industrial Estate, Thane, a private developer punctured the water tunnel. mid-day first reported on March 31 that the developer dug an illegal borewell on the plot. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, which is the planning authority for the Wagle Industrial area, had permitted the construction of an IT park on the plot. But according to the BMC document, MIDC had not permitted the developer to dig the borewell. The Thane Municipal Corporation has already marked this area as no borewell zone. The Sri Nagar police station has filed an FIR against the developer. The BMC had submitted a report to the police.

Developer to pay

Talking about recovering the cost of repairs, a senior BMC official said, "We have decided to recover around Rs 75 crore from the offender. The cost of repairing is Rs 13.88 crore. But we will recover over four times the penalty for repairs. We will also recover the cost of water that was wasted due to the leakage. About 3 million liters of water is wasted every day through the leakage."