life in general: criminal water-related negligence by bombay muncipality

The last few days has seen an unprecedented number of pipes supplying water to Bombay bursting and millions of litres of water being criminally wasted (see newsreports here, here & here). 

Bombay receives a large part of it its water from artificial lakes that lie 50-100 kms outside Bombay in Thane district (see table just below).

			Supply, as of 2004-05,
Artificial lakes from	Distance	Operational	to Bombay (million
where water is bought:	from Bombay	since:	litres per day)
Vihar	28 kms	1860	68
Tulsi	32 kms	1879	18
Tansa (across 4 phases)	110 kms	1892-1948	455
Vaitama	122 kms	1957	490
Upper Vaitarna	140 kms	1972	554
Bhatsa (various phases)	110 kms	1981-1997	1365

Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), that is statutorily liable to maintain the water supply lines, has been tardy in the last few years in moving quickly to repair or replace old pipes. See the chart below (click on it to see it enlarged & clear) for an insight into the expenditure level on water supply lines and other civic infrastructure like roads. Water lines should have been getting more financial attention all along the last few years but it is only in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets of BMC that expenditure outlays has been increased significantly.