— PHOTO: PTI

Mumbai residents queue up to collect water from private vendors on Wednesday.

MUMBAI: Taps in the metropolis went dry on Wednesday for the first time in over a century owing to scheduled repair work being carried out by the civic body on the pipelines bringing water to the city.

It is for the first time that the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has imposed a 100 per cent cut for 24 hours from 10 a.m. for repairs and connecting already-laid pipelines to a filteration plant.

Mumbaikars, who are accustomed to storing water on a daily basis, seemed to be fully geared up for the water cut due to advance intimation from the MCGM officials.

Police said no untoward incident had been reported due to the water cut in the city. ``It is a regular thing and fights happen only when the taps run dry suddenly,'' said a senior police official.

Review

An MCGM spokesperson said that a review of the work, being carried out on the pipelines in the neighbouring Thane district, would be held later in the day.

``Based upon it, we can even restore the water supply by evening if the work is satisfactory,'' he said.

The second phase of the major repair work is scheduled to take place next month and officials are confident that the laying will end the water woes of the metropolis.

Emergency services such as hospitals and fire department have geared up for the water cut with the hospitals rescheduling routine surgeries and depending upon water tankers for emergency cases.

``We have a list of over 100 tanks in the city and over 1,500 wells in the suburbs of the metropolis which can be a good source of water. Newly-constructed buildings in the suburbs also have underground water facilities for emergency purposes,'' according to a fire brigade official. — PTI

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