Arshad Balwa - Letter To MC
Arshad Balwa - Letter To MC
Arshad Balwa - Letter To MC
I, Arshad Balwa am 16 years of age and a student of Mumbai School. I represent the future of India and therefore to you. I have taken the liberty of addressing this letter
Mumbai water. supply comes from 6 lakes - Tansa, Modak, Bhatsa, Vaitarna, Tulsi, Upper Vaitarna and Powai. This system is made up of reservoirs, pipes and taps. The water distribution storage,
Water is brought in from the lakes after treatment The 2 major resources, city and therefore
Tansa and Lower Vaitarna are at a higher level than the to pump the water to the city.
are mainly located on hills at Malabar Hill, Worli Hill, The timing of the water supply to 2 to 4 hours. The average to approximately urban 295
Raoli, Pali Hill, Malad, Powai and Bhandup. different parts of the cities varies between
water use in India is about 150 liters per day compared liters per day in the cities of the developed countries.
Mumbai city is about 3500 million liters per day out of which about 700 millions of water is lost by way of water thefts, illegal connections and leakages every in
single day. At present nearly half the 1700 million liters of sewage generated Mumbai daily is let out into the sea untreated the treatment plant.
I
I
Rs.5200 crores Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP) and the whole network is scheduled to be in place by the year 2017.
Mumbai depends solely on the monsoon the rest of the year water
rains for its lakes to fill up so that for to the over 14 million residents. Mumbai and in
can be supplied
New Delhi, India's most populous demand for water from amongst India, Water
2nd
will account for 15.8% of the Municipal Meeting drinking, industrial and
for demand
in the world.
municipal demands as more people move to city will require not only substantial investment substantial but also far sighted planning investment that the Municipal for the next 50 years. Corporation of Greater Despite the Mumbai is
the monsoon year after year. Coupled with the uncertainty rising demand per capita and the rising population shortage of water in the coming years.
which will lead to a huge on an average about into the sea via
Mumbai receives
2600 millimeters
on Malaysia for almost all its water supply. in Singapore began with the
supply
construction
Reservoir
which was built by the British in 1868. of Singapore and Sultan Ebrahim
Commissioner
lohar in neighbouring
rent land in lohar and use its water for free. In 1932, a pipeline to transport raw water Singapore carries to Singapore was built and inaugurated. that linked Singapore and the pipeline During the batter
the pipeline
was destroyed
Singapore with water reserves that could last for 2 weeks. Accordiug to Lee Kuan Yew this was one of the motives to envision water self-sufficiency later when he became the City State Prime Minister. As Singapore continued to grow When
rapidly more and more water was needed to sustain the city's growth. Singapore became independent
security became the top agenda for the city state. To achieve water security and to free itself from the clutches of Malaysia, it introduced taps policy". The first tap was local water catchments, what is called the "four the
2nd
water from Malaysia, the 3rd tap was reclaimed water i.e. water reclaimed sewage treatment situation water plant and the 4th tap was seawater Singapore no water desalination.
From a in its
requirement
by 2061 with
from Malaysia.
Singapore receives the same amount of rainfall as does Mumbai. However, since like Mumbai most of the land is developed, catch and store the rainfall. partly protected drinking reservoirs. treated water water. catchment there is a huge constraint of land to
surface area are classified as can be collected and used as in 17 raw water and use of the name given to
As of 2012, surface
was collected
public utilities.
treated waster water (sewage) that has been purified using dual membrane ultra violet technology in addition to conventional water treatment
processes. 50
producing
million imperial gallons per day. Some of the newater applications in industries.
as in the case of Singapore, it could produce about 1000 million liters. of portable drinking water everyday and provide for almost 25% of the water requirement
of Mumbai.
Mumbai has the largest forest area in any city in the form of the an
Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The Sanjay Gandhi National Park encumberses area of 104 sq. km and is surrounded national
on 3 sides by Mumbai. It is one of the major limit in Asia. The Sanjay Gandhi
National Park also has a few catchment Lake and the Tansa Lake. catchment
area in the form of the Powai Lake, Vihar which falls in this and nalas
area, is discharged
Various committees
and commissions
have debated the issue of Mumbai city and and substantial I therefore money on request
of Maharashtra
the citizens of Mumbai with a blue print of the plan for the next 50 water demands of the citizens of
Mumbai and provide a concrete and tangible plan for waste water use and other water conservation 10-20 years. techniques so as to make Mumbai self sufficient in the next
I, Arshad Balwa citizen of India call upon your goodself to put in place a plan to make Mumbai Water Independent cut deadline hereof. of implementation and disclose the plan to the public with clear I further request you to do so within 60 days
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
ARSHAD BAL W A
if