The Second meeting of the Water and Sanitation
Stakeholders held on the 17th of August, 2011 at the UDRI
Attendees
Name
Organisation
Avinash Kadam
Asad Bin Saif
Paani Hak Samiti
Bombay Urban Industrial League for
Development (BUILD)
Sulabh Shauchalaya
YUVA
CRH
PUKAR
UDRI
UDRI
UDRI
UDRI
Rajan Chopra
Gopal Dubey
Sweta Damale
Ramnath Subaram
Pankaj Joshi
Deepali Mody
Sangeeta Banerjee
Franziska Schreiber
Apologies:
1.0 Discussion on Issues
1.1 Water supply distribution network
The MCGM hydraulics department has no special provision for re-laying of water network lines.
These old pipes are damaged and leads to contamination of the water supply through
intermixing with nearby sewage lines. This is exacerbated by the fact that water supply through
these pipes are for limited hours only and the vacuum pressure of empty water lines sucks in
added contamination. It is necessary to prioritize the re-laying of new pipes mainly in the island
city where the existing network is more then 80-90 years old. The suburban network is about 30
years old.
1.2 Hydraulic Engineer’s Departmental Issues
The participants expressed the view that the MCGM’s Hydraulic Engineers (HE) Dept has been
systematically neglected. The staff of the HE’s Dept do private projects after 5 pm and provide
efficient service to private persons who avail of their expertise in fixing problems with their
water supply etc.
1.3 Mapping the Existing Pipe network
The maps of the water supply network have not been maintained. There is an urgent need to
create records of the water and sewerage network in the GIS platform. This task should be
undertaken immediately by the HE’s department. It is necessary to locate all of the shut off
valves on major pipelines (there are 46) so that repairs can be undertaken without shutting off
the main valves. 24 of these valves are operated daily so their location is known. The rest need
to be located.
1.4 Maintenance of Water pipe lines and Sewage Pipelines
The MCGM has modern sounding equipment to locate underground pipelines but this work has
not been carried out and the equipment lies idle.
1.5 Staffing for the HE’s Department
1500 Staff positions in the HE’s department have not been filled. There are no training systems
in place for staff lower then Engineers. Even the Engineers are given training only in
Management issues and not technical training.
1.6 Overhead tanks/reservoirs for each area required
In order to maintain proper pressure in the pipes, overhead reservoirs need to be built for each
area. The DP plan should allocate land for the construction of such reservoirs. For instance the
opld british reservoir at Malabar Hill services the entire area of South Mumbai and is not
adequate for maintaining pressure further down the supply line. For this one needs to have a
reservoir servicing approximately a 3 km radius.
1.7 Planning Permissions
Planning permissions are not linked to the availability of water supply. The water supply network
has to keep pace with the planning permissions that are issued. This has to be systematized into
the working of the HE Department.
1.8 Sewage Treatment Plant
The land reservation for a sewage treatment plant (STP) in Worli – Jijamata Nagar – is
encroached now. 90,000 Crore was paid to consultant to make a proposal but nothing has come
of this. A plan needs to be prepared for provisioning of STP’s for recycling of water and sewage
treatment.
1.9 Recycling of Water and Sewage
In the light of the massive deprivation caused to the hinterland by Mumbai’s demand of 3000
MLD of water a day, it is necessary to look at strategies for recycling and conservation of water
to meet the ever increasing demand. Sewage Recycling Plants can act not only as waste to
energy facilities but also provide potable water that can be recycled into Mumbai central
reservoirs and supplied back to the city after passing through the water purification plant.
1.10 Metering and Water audit
The metering system is ineffective as 80% of the meters are non-functioning. In order to ensure
equity of supply it is necessary that proper metering is in place at every supply point. The pricing
of water is to be done on a sliding scale so that the larger consumers of water pay a higher per
liter rate then the smaller consumers. This will ensure some sort of equity in the provision of
water. It is necessary to do a water audit to understand where/how much water is being
utilized/supplied.
1.11 Safe Water
One of the major concerns is the storage of water safely in very low income households, the
cleaning of tanks and sumps. If this is not done properly it leads to major health issues and many
safe water campaigns have been run. However storage issues in low income households will
become irrelevant if 24/7 water supply is made available. This will also reduce contamination of
water in pipes. Contrary to expectations 24/7 water supply will not lead to increase in water
consumption but may actually lead to a reduction as large containers of stored water will not be
thrown away in order to fill them with fresh water.
1.12 DP to coordinate with all of the Engineering Heads
The Water Supply and Sewerage (WSSD) Department consists of :
1) Hydraulic Engineer (HE)
2) Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP)
3) Water Supply Project (WSP)
4) Sewerage Project
5) Sewerage Operations
Each of these departments is headed by a Chief Engineer. It is necessary that the DP consultant
obtain a full brief from each of these Chief Engineers at the very outset. There needs to be
coordination between each of these departments in creating the new DP. Currently there is no
cross structure communication system in place and these departments do not talk to each other.
2.0 Principles for Water and Sanitation Planning
2.1 The Water Supply to Mumbai has to be limited to the current consumption (3000MLD) and
future needs to be met by re-cycling/conservation so as to minimize deprivation of the
hinterland that is leading to urban rural conflict.
2.2 The City to work towards a goal of maximum self sustainability in water and sewage
recycling
2.3 Aim for a 24 by 7 water supply and fix existing leaks in the supply network to minimize
losses due to transmission.
2.4 Water metering on a sliding scale that prices higher consumption over the basic supply to
every citizen of 150 LPCD at a much higher rate. This will curb wasteful consumption and create
an environment for equity in water distribution. In order to do this an effective metering system
will have to be put in place.
2.5 All sewage to be treated in STP’s before being disposed in city water systems.
2.6 The city to work towards ensuring adequate toilet facilities so as to remove open defecation.
3.0 Methodologies, Agenda and date for next meeting
The UDRI will draft a letter to be sent to the MCGM based on the points raised in the meeting.
This will be circulated before the next meeting for comments.
The next stakeholder meeting for Sanitation will be held on 12th
September (Monday) at 4.00 pm
Meeting concluded.