After the flood, water crisis hits Thane district

Residents show the dirty water they have been getting in their taps since yesterday

After the extensive waterlogging over the past two days, residents in Shahpur and adjoining areas have been getting muddy water in their taps. Residents are now forced to buy bottled water for their daily chores. Although the water has receded in many parts of Thane district, Shahapur residents are facing a drinking water crisis owing to the contamination of wells and damage to the pumping stations in the flood-hit areas.

A drinking water scarcity has been reported in Kinhavl, Shahapur and CherpolI. These include 15 villages where the wells are directly connected to Bhatsa river. As these areas are close to Bhatsa Dam, all were almost entirely submerged during the floods. This resulted in slushy water entering the wells here, which are drinking water sources for households. These villages do not have a water purifying system.

As no one from the government or zilla parishad and neither the local MLA or MP has come forward to provide water to these people, most have been sourcing it from nearby villages or those who can afford it are buying bottled water.

"We have been using river water for the past so many years. For the past four days, we have been suffering due to lack of drinking water. We haven't even take a bath. Yesterday, the water coming out of our taps was full of mud and was sticky. The villagers then came together and decided to buy water from outside. If this had happened in the city, everyone would have come forward to help, but we have to struggle for the smallest things," said Minaxi Madke, a resident of Cherpoli.

Sunil Gharat, resident of Kinhavli village, said, "Apart from the difficulty in cleaning up the wells, dead reptiles, insects, e-waste and garbage floating in the water has been hindering the process. Our pumps have been getting stuck because of this debris and we have to shell out money for repairing them. This on top of the immense losses we have incurred in the floods. The zilla parishad has not even come to give us a bottle of water and the politicians are nowhere to be seen."

ZP Additional CEO, B Namane said, "I will ask my officer to visit these villages by tomorrow (August 7) and arrange for all the necessary things."

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