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Mumbai residents go without water Mumbai residents go without water
(about 1 hour later)
Millions of people have been spending a day without water in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) because of repairs to the existing pipelines. Millions of people have spent a day without water in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) because of repairs to the existing pipelines.
Engineers say they have now completed repairs and are restarting supplies to the city's 18 million people.
Authorities gave notice of their decision and asked people to stock up on water ahead of the shutdown.Authorities gave notice of their decision and asked people to stock up on water ahead of the shutdown.
Mumbai supplies 3,200 million litres of water for 18 million people every day. Water pipelines in most Indian cities are old and rusty. Leakages leading to contamination of supplies are common.
Water pipelines in most Indian cities are old and rusty. Frequent leakages leading to contamination of supplies is very common. Bombay municipal commissioner Johny Joseph told the BBC news website the city needed 3,900m litres of water every day against the present supply of 3,200m.
Municipal commissioner Johny Joseph told the BBC news website that the city needed 3900 million litres of water everyday against the present supply of 3200 million litres.
We showered and washed our clothes the night before Chisy Das, Mumbai resident "To augment this shortage and increase water supply, we need to connect new pipelines to the existing system and carry out repairs in existing reservoirs," he said.We showered and washed our clothes the night before Chisy Das, Mumbai resident "To augment this shortage and increase water supply, we need to connect new pipelines to the existing system and carry out repairs in existing reservoirs," he said.
He said this work needed to be carried out in a "waterless atmosphere" and therefore they had to shut off water supply for 24 hours. Mr Joseph said this work needed to be carried out in a "waterless atmosphere" and therefore authorities had to shut off water supply for 24 hours.
Senior municipal official Talak Shah said this was the first time they had shut down supplies in the city for 24 hours.
Long queuesLong queues
"Ideally it should be over much before the deadline but we did not want to take any chances so we told people to be prepared to go without water for a day," he said. The water supply is expected to be fully restored by Thursday morning.
The water supply is expected to be restored by 10 am on Thursday.
Mr Shah also said the residents had been cooperative.
After the warning, people stood in long lines on Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning to collect water from public taps and water tankers.After the warning, people stood in long lines on Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning to collect water from public taps and water tankers.
The city of 18 million people has a shortage of water Mumbai needed another 700m litres of water a day
They stored water in buckets, vessels and even plastic pouches.They stored water in buckets, vessels and even plastic pouches.
A resident of western suburb Bandra, Chaitali Patel, washed her dishes the night before and stored water in buckets and cooking vessels to see her through the hours of drought.A resident of western suburb Bandra, Chaitali Patel, washed her dishes the night before and stored water in buckets and cooking vessels to see her through the hours of drought.
"I did not leave anything for my maid to do because there would be no running water by the time she came in the morning," she said."I did not leave anything for my maid to do because there would be no running water by the time she came in the morning," she said.
"I even washed my hair last evening because I knew I would barely have enough water to take a quick shower in the morning.""I even washed my hair last evening because I knew I would barely have enough water to take a quick shower in the morning."
Media professional Chisy Das said she moved to Mumbai seven years ago and this is the first time she has experienced such a water shortage here. Media professional Chisy Das said she moved to Mumbai seven years ago and this was the first time she had experienced such a water shortage here.
"I filled my utensils and buckets because we don't have big containers to store water like we do in other towns where water shortage is a normal occurrence," she said."I filled my utensils and buckets because we don't have big containers to store water like we do in other towns where water shortage is a normal occurrence," she said.
"We all showered and washed our clothes the night before. Today, the entire family is eating all three meals out to avoid having dirty dishes in the sink.""We all showered and washed our clothes the night before. Today, the entire family is eating all three meals out to avoid having dirty dishes in the sink."
Water tankers were much in demand to help deal with water shortage.Water tankers were much in demand to help deal with water shortage.
Some charged double of what they would normally charge for supplying water to various houses and residential colonies.Some charged double of what they would normally charge for supplying water to various houses and residential colonies.