Water crisis dampens Mumbai realty

For Mumbai's city managers it is a virtual scramble for water with reservoir levels fast dipping and monsoon well over six months away. And, till such time, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has the stupendous task of rationing water to the island city. The cumulative storage of the reservoirs is 23 per cent lower at 7.38 lakh million litres against last year's 9.62 lakh million litres.
Curtailing supply
As a first measure at conservation, the corporation has curtailed water for existing buildings and denied connections to new ones.
For real-estate developers who were just about seeing demand coming back, it is a definite setback to a hassle-free path to recovery.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Ashok Chavan, told the winter session of the Assembly in Nagpur that no water connections would be given to townships and new towers of seven storeys and more till the completion of the Middle Vaitarna project.
The water supply scheme is slated for completion in 2012. The Rs 1,330-crore Vaitarna project will deliver 455 million litres a day (mld) to the city. Against the requirement of 3400 mld, the current supply is around 2900 mld.
In the meanwhile, the corporation has been made it clear that new constructions would have to wait over 30 months for water connections or depend on alternative sources such as tanker supply or bore-wells.
Last week, the Municipal Commissioner, Mr Swadheen Kshatriya, said water supply for Slum Rehabilitation Authority schemes and project-affected persons would be provided. Similarly, buildings constructed by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority that qualify under the low- and middle-income group housing would be eligible for 45 litres per capita.
However, for new buildings that do not come under bulk consumers the corporation proposes to halve the per capita supply of 90 litres to 45 litres. Bulk consumers are those whose requirements are more than 2 lakh litres a day.
In addition, the MCGM has asked large bulk consumers such as malls, multiplexes, five star hotels, the Mumbai Port Trust and the Railways to go in for bore-wells to take care of their non-potable water consumption, which as such are facing a 30 per cent cut in supply.
The MCGM plans to acquire nearly 1,000 private wells in the city and also request for more water from the Bhatsa Lake. As such water drawn from the Bhatsa is about 1,715 mld. The present water supply is from Vihar Lake, Tulsi Lake, Tansa Lake, Lower and Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa.
The corporation is also working out a schedule for imposing 100 per cent water cut one day a week across the city and the timetable for this is expected to be announced on January 7.
Private sector help
The General Secretary of the Builders Association of India, Mr Anand Gupta, says that most buildings in any case were being constructed with tanker supply and in the case of new buildings that go in for the preliminary approvals, completion would take over two years. However, the management and distribution of water by the civic body was an issue and it could well look up to the private sector in areas where it was found wanting.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the Maharashtra Government will accede to the frantic request of the civic agency and divert the water meant for irrigation to quench the thirst of the millions in an ever-expanding city.
Says, Kishore Bhatia a leading real estate agent based in Mumbai that all projects in Bandra an uptown suburb has come to a standstill. The BMC has delayed supplying municipal water to new constructions leading to hardship to new flat owners. The builders on the other hand blame the whole situation on the BMC which in turn blames the deficient rains this year.At the current scenario says Bhatia , property prices in upmarket areas will take a hit of upto 25%. The same view is echoed by Vibhoo Mehra another leading real estate consultant in upscale Juhu area which has seen large scale development in the last one and half year. "New building are not been suplied with BMC water inspite of paying high taxes. Even the water being supplied in Posh areas of Juhu is contaminated . The BMC turns a blind eye twoards this" quips Mehra.