Fire At Pump Station: Officials Share Update on Mumbai Water Cut

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has implemented a 15% water reduction Officials have cited installing the third transformer will take some time as it is under standby maintenance. Civic engineers have repaired and activated 15 of the 20 water pumps at the affected facility. Full restoration of the water supply will depend on the installation of the additional transformer, which is necessary to power the remaining pumps.

"Out of 4 transformations, two are operating in a healthy state, 1 is damaged due to fire, and the fourth transformer was on standby maintenance. The maintenance work is completed, today it will be shifted from the workshop, and atleast take 4 to 5 days for installation. That is why we have ascertained a full supply of water supply by March 5," said Purshottam Malwade Hydraulic Engineer. 

South Bombay, eastern and western suburbs, a few areas in Thane and Bhiwandi will suffer a 15% water cut in the city till March 5. Due to the fire in the BMC's Pise water pumping station on Monday, several areas of Mumbai and Thane suffered from a 100% water cut. The water cut was imposed after the fire that broke out in one of the three transformers. "The fire in the transformer was due to the sparks, the transformers are timely maintained but sometimes you never know what can go wrong," added Malwade. 

The fire was brought under control by 10 pm on Monday, but the transformer was completely damaged. The pumping station had four transformers with 20 pumps running on it. Out of 4, one was under maintenance, one was damaged due to fire, and two were now in working state. 

According to officials, they had to shut down the two other transformers, so they did not get affected by the fire. However, the fire was extinguished by 10 pm on Monday and the one transformer at 11 pm, which enabled pumping operation with the eight pumps. Around 11 am, the second transformer was brought online, facilitating the operation of an additional seven pumps at the pumping station. Currently, 15 pumps are working, due to which 70% of the water supply is restored in all the areas that were supposed to be affected.