Thane: Thane’s water crisis is set to worsen with residents facing another 24-hour weekly shutdown of supply from STEM and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), even as Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has already begun a 36-hour weekly shutdown from Thursday midnight until further orders. BMC already enforces a 10% cut daily.Civic officials warned that the overlapping curbs across agencies could cause up to two-and-a-half days of severe shortage, followed by two days of low-pressure supply.STEM Water Distribution and Infrastructure Co Ltd, jointly owned by the Thane, Bhiwandi-Nizampur and Mira-Bhayander civic bodies and Thane Zilla Parishad, supplies around 115 million litres per day (MLD) to Thane from Barvi dam via Temghar treatment plant. TMC draws another 250 MLD from Bhatsa through its own network, while MIDC supplies 135 MLD from Barvi. BMC provides an additional 90 MLD.Under the govt’s 10% water-cut directive, Thane is expected to lose around 37 MLD from its total supply of 365 MLD from STEM and TMC. Instead of daily reductions, the two agencies are opting for a 24-hour shutdown once a week, a civic official said. MIDC has adopted a similar weekly schedule, with a 36-hour shutdown, while BMC imposes daily 10% cuts.The mounting squeeze is already triggering panic buying of packaged water, with stocks dwindling and online delivery waiting periods increasing. “Residents are already discussing to start stocking bottled water and jars in our area, anticipating an acute shortage in the coming days,” said Anubha Sahai, a Hiranandani Estate resident.Meanwhile, TMC is preparing to expand tanker-filling capacity as demand rises at its lone filling centre at Saket, where around 70 tankers scoop out 10,000 litres and supply to various parched corners of the city. A new filling centre at Manpada is being operationalised to serve the increasingly water-stressed Ghodbunder belt, officials said.Yet, residents complained, private tanker costs are spiralling. While the civic body charges Rs 700 to fill a 10,000-litre private tanker and Rs 1,000 for delivery through a TMC tanker, societies complain of paying Rs 1,800-Rs 2,500 or more to private operators as demand surges, raising concerns over profiteering during the shortage.TMC claimed it is working out solutions to minimise the inconvenience to residents by adopting the water zoning system so that no area remains parched for a long time in a single stretch.
