Sanitizing Heritage—Hydraulic Water Supply and the Erosion of the Traditional Water Management System in Colonial Bombay City (1860–1947)

Abstract

The traditional urban water management systems of Bombay (Mumbai) city consisted of tanks and wells constructed by charitable people of all creeds. But the entry of hydraulic engineering techniques, via the construction of Vihar Lake in 1860, ostensibly to supply pure and plentiful water heralded their doom. The modern but intrinsically flawed water supply system, unplanned urban development and the ensuing insanitation aggravated cholera and malaria epidemics, endemic to the city, threatening its imperial trade. This, and the desire to create sanitized colonies through town planning, encouraged Bombay municipality to attack the city’s tanks and wells, vilified as sources of pollution, despite protests of the local people. Based on an examination of archival sources, this article traces the history of colonial Bombay’s water management policy from 1860 and examines its impact on the city’s water inheritance, up to Indian independence in 1947. It aims to raise awareness levels about the potential importance of the surviving heritage, at a time when the spectre of insanitation and water scarcity haunts Mumbai.