In a bid to tackle the city’s water woes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to replace water pipelines every 15 years. The proposal has been tabled in the standing committee and will come up for discussion on Wednesday. Around 680 million litres of water is lost through leakage everyday in the city. The civic body is also planning to make it mandatory for residents to replace old and dilapidated pipelines in their housing societies.

Mumbai has one of the oldest network of water pipelines. The water mains in the city were laid during the British era. Often water leakages loosen the earth foundation and that leads to caving of roads.

As a solution to this problem, Shiv Sena corporator Manmohan Chonkar had suggested replacement of pipelines every 15 years. Later, Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak agreed to the proposal. Phatak said that the civic administration carries out structural audit of old buildings in the city every 15 years and it was appropriate to propose replacement of pipelines.

“Fifteen years ago, they used to lay water pipelines made of iron, which would rust soon. Many a times we get complaints about polluted water or supply with low pressure. But their problems were solved after we replaced the pipelines,” he said.

Phatak also said that while the BMC would replace the water pipelines which it maintains, those on the premises of housing complexes and societies should be changed by the residents.