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24x7 Leakage At Sinhagad Road Pumping Station in Pune Remains Unfixed | Pune News - The Times of India

Pune: A larger number of rainy days were witnessed in 2025 than in many previous years, and yet the dependence of city residents on water tankers does not seem to have reduced.Residents of areas like Undri, NIBM Road, Kharadi, Baner and Mundhwa, to name a few, have told TOI repeatedly that dependence on water tankers has not just grown over the years, but nearly doubled for some. Many societies struggle to get even once-a-day supply Shockingly, amid this growing concern of water scarcity, thousands of litres of water picked up from Khadakwasla dam are being lost daily to a leaking pipe on Sinhagad Road. Local resident and architect Sarang Yadwadkar, who flagged this issue, also said that the authorities have failed to take action to repair the pipe for over a year now. Urgent repairs needed at pumping station A visit by TOI to the water pumping station behind the Pu La Deshpande garden located on Sinhagad Road confirmed the situation. One of four big pipes here, each of which are 600m long, has developed a major leakage issue, largely due to cracks. On reaching the location around 3.15pm on Oct 14, water was found simply leaking out of the large pipe and accumulating in huge puddles. Yadwadkar said, "This water flows underground, crosses over to the other side of Sinhagad Road and joins the Mutha river through stormwater drains. The flow is very heavy and it goes on 24x7. Even if we consider conservative figures, we are losing lakhs of litres of water daily. As per my estimates, this water could be useful for close to 1.2 lakh people." "I have been reaching out to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) water department for over a year now, but nothing has changed on ground. Pune is already facing water shortages every few months after the monsoon, which gets worse during the summer. Here, the water wastage we see is only half of it. I assume a lot more is getting wasted underground as well," he added. At least three pipe leakage points are apparent at the spot -- two big ones and one small one. Within a few moments of TOI asking about the leakage at the pumping station, staff switched on a pump placed under the largest puddle of water. This pumping helps send the water back into the tank to minimise leakage, explained a staffer. But Yadwadkar highlighted, "PMC must conduct audits and checks to keep a tab on such leakages and work on an emergency basis to minimise water loss. The civic body is already lifting more water from Khadakwasla dam than what was decided earlier. If so much is going to be wasted, what is the point? Societies might not have to depend on tankers for their water supply if PMC fixes even half of its leakages. They also have no map of the underground water system, which is a big problem." Water from this pumping station is sent to the Cantonment water treatment plant (WTP), from where it covers areas like Wanowrie, Kondhwa, Camp, Koregaon Park, Vishrantwadi, Kalyaninagar, Wadgaonsheri, Kharadi, Yerawada, Hadapsar, Mohammadwadi, Lohegaon, Tingrenagar, Mundhwa and parts of Nagar Road and Solapur Road, among other localities. Most of these areas are residential hubs, with some featuring heavy presence of commercial establishments, all of which require water throughout the day. Fixing old pipes presents a challenge The water pumping station on Sinhagad Road is not the only spot in the city where water leakage is an issue. However, when asked about this leakage in particular, the PMC water supply department's chief engineer Nandkishor Jagtap said that fixing such old pipes is a tough task. "The leakages that the resident was complaining about have been fixed. While we were tackling those, we also cleared a lot of debris that had been dumped above the pipes. When that was cleared, we learned about the leakage from the big pipe. I visited the site a few days ago. As a temporary measure, we have put a pump at the spot to channel the water correctly and avoid wastage," Jagtap said. When asked about why the pump aimed at mitigating water wastage was shut when TOI visited, Jagtap said it should have been working round the clock and he would look into it. The senior official explained that to fix the pipe, PMC will have to shut its water supply, cut it open, and send people in to carry out the repair work. Zero leakage not possible: Civic official Jagtap admitted that at least 40% of the water supply received by PMC is lost to leakages and illegal connections. Residents and experts alike asserted that this lacuna must be brought under control swiftly to minimise wastage of an essential commodity and provide regular supply to all societies and establishments in civic limits. According to the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation's (CPHEEO) guidelines for India, water losses in a distribution system should not exceed 10%. An additional loss of no more than 1% is permitted when water is transported from a WTP to service reservoirs. Jagtap said, "Zero leakage is not possible. Our goal is to get it under 15% and so, 20%-25% of our current leakages have to be curbed. Work for that is underway. We have divided areas that fall under PMC limits, minus the newly merged areas, into 141 zones. Work is ongoing accordingly. This wastage includes leakages and illegal connections." "Metering has to be completed entirely for proper detection of leakages. But we are facing resistance to this from citizens in some areas. For leaks, the technique available to us is acoustic detection, wherein we rely on sound of the flow to detect leaks. During the day, traffic makes this exercise difficult, so it has to be done at night. This is one of the other challenges that we face," he added. WHAT RESIDENTS SAYWe currently rely on gram panchayat water supply, which comes once every three days through old pipes. PMC recently laid a new pipeline in the area, but water supply has not started yet. We keep getting told that we will get water, but unfortunately, infrastructure to carry or store the water does not exist yet. A big tank is still being built in the area, which will probably be ready only next year. Till then, we have to rely on tankers -- Ravi Ganachari | Secretary, Lohegaon Residents Welfare Association The water supply situation in Kharadi has gotten slightly better over the last few months, but several societies continue to suffer and remain largely dependent on tankers. PMC needs to conduct surveys and identify the leakages with the help of water meters at the earliest. While they do that, visible leakages should also be fixed on a priority basis to ensure that everyone gets enough water for their daily requirements. The process must be fast-tracked -- Deepak Patil | Chairman, Kharadi Welfare Housing Societies Association

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