The silent army of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and its entire squad of officers, engineers, workers and the leadership deserve a big shout out for being on their toes, successfully keeping Mumbai moving without any scars in a year of extreme weather and exacting conditions.
The summer of 2016 was hotter and drier than ever before. The drought was comparable to the years of the recent past. The intensity was felt all across the state which saw an exodus from villages to cities with people desperate for jobs and water. There were trains full of water dispatched to the parched hinterland. For us urban folks, major sport events, cricket matches were shifted to other states.
The job is not easy. We have lakes, dams and a network of pipelines almost 7,000 km in length. But it was meticulous planning, minor but crucial interventions of water cuts, and the cooperation of Mumbaikars that allowed Mumbai to stay at a safe distance from feeling the heat at our taps.
What Mumbai city received in 2016 was an excessive monsoon. Out of 120 days of the monsoon, Mumbai normally receives 72 days of rain on an average. We had 99 days of rainfall this year, each rainfall exceeding the earlier in measure. On days like September 24, it rained for almost 48 hours, rainfall exceeding 114 mm in a span of a few hours in certain regions of Mumbai.
The BMC's Hydraulic Engineering Department is one of India's most active, modern and silent working departments, with a slew of actions that keep Mumbai drought-free, while the Storm Water Drains Department works to keep it flood-free. After the 2007 cloudburst, the BMC initiated an action plan of keeping Mumbai flood-free, and there is evidence that the plan works. The storm water drains that were 25 mm and had the capacity to expand to 50mm (as made in the erstwhile British Raj) were enlarged. Phase-wise road works also included the careful installation of new pipes of larger capacity.
These measures are crucial as Mumbai is an island city turned into a coastal city with reclamation. Many areas like the Hind Mata were either lakes or marshlands years ago, and some areas are still below sea level, causing the water to flow reverse during high tide and heavy rainfall. The BMC is probably the only Municipal Corporation in India to have such a large number of dams built by itself, and a large and meticulously-planned water distribution network.
The recently-proposed waste water treatment plants across the city initiated by the BMC will bring back almost 2,700 MLD of water for non-potable usage into our city. The construction of the six planned plants was started by Uddhav Thackeray and the Mayor of Mumbai, last week. It is a major step toward recycling our water, and building a sustainable future.
What is most crucial to citizens on a daily basis, though, is affordability and equal access to water. Even as access increases daily with new connections, the affordability has been maintained in the last two decades. It costs the BMC Rs 11.5 per person per 1,000 litres, however the cost to the citizens is only Rs 3.5 per person/1000 litres - almost 700 litres free each day.
It may not be something to boast about as it is the duty of civic administrations to ensure that a city remains scar free through these natural phenomenons.It may not be work that was directly seen by us as citizens, though felt without realising, and that's the way work should be.
However, it surely is a reason to feel reassured that there is someone who is silently working without adverts, to keep this mega city working!
(Aaditya Thackeray is the president of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena)
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