![Cowasjee-Framjee-Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Cowasjee-Framjee-Hall.jpg)
Although the tanks have long vanished, the city of
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(now Mumbai) once had many
water tank
A water tank is a container for storing water.
Water tanks are used to provide storage of water for use in many applications, drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemi ...
s within its city limits. They were once the only source of water to the city. The only testimony to their existence is the names of the roads in their vicinity, which befuddles many citizens as to the original location to these mystifying relics of the past.
The oldest tank was the Cowasjee Patel Tank built in 1775. A total of ten tanks were built between the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The tanks were named after philanthropic citizens who donated money to fund the building of these tanks so that the citizens of the city would get a fresh source of drinking water. The tanks were:
# Cowasji Rustamji Patel Tank (
CP Tank)
#
Gowalia Tank
Gowalia Tank Maidan, officially renamed August Kranti Maidan, is a park in Grant Road West, in South Mumbai, in which Mahatma Gandhi issued the Quit India speech on 8 August 1942. It decreed that unless the British left India immediately, mass ...
# Khara Tank
# Two Tanks
# Babula Tank
# Nawab Tank
# Framjee Cowasji Tank
# Mumbadevi Tank
#
Banganga Tank
The Banganga Tank is a temple tank which is part of the Hindu Walkeshwar Temple complex in the Malabar Hill area of the city of Mumbai, India.
History
The tank was built in AD 1127 by Lakshman Prabhu, a minister in the court of Silhara king ...
#
Bandra Tank
Out of the list only the Banganga Tank and the Bandra Tank are still in existence today.
Locations
The CP Tank was built by Cowasji Rustamjee Patel in the
Girgaon
Girgaon, or Girgaum, is an area in southern Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. It is near the coast. A section of Marine Drive is located here.
See also
*Girgaum Chowpatti
*Tanks of Bombay
Although the tanks have long vanished, the city of Bom ...
vicinity in 1775. The Framji Cowasji Tank bordered Esplanade was built by
Framji Cowasji in 1831. All that remains of the tank is a plaque on a wall opposite Metro Cinema in
South Mumbai
South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Anglo-Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbour ...
.
The Babula Tank was built near
Grant Medical College
The Grant Government Medical College, Mumbai, is a public medical college, affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. Founded in 1845, it is one of the oldest institutions teaching medicine in South Asia.
Its clinical affil ...
and the Mumbadevi Tank was constructed by a pious woman named
Putlibai. The
Banganga Tank
The Banganga Tank is a temple tank which is part of the Hindu Walkeshwar Temple complex in the Malabar Hill area of the city of Mumbai, India.
History
The tank was built in AD 1127 by Lakshman Prabhu, a minister in the court of Silhara king ...
has been present since ancient times, said to be from the time of
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
, and is fed by a natural spring although it is only a few
decametre
A decametre ( International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and by most English speaking countries, United States spelling dekameter or decameter,), symbol dam ("da" for the SI prefix deca-, "m" for the SI ...
s from the seashore. The Bandra Tank was built by a rich Kokni Muslim of Village Navpada, and was in use for watering cattle and washing clothes.
History
The tanks were mostly constructed in the crowded areas and were prone to pollution. The scarcity of water was acute at that time and was left to the mercy of the
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
rains. According to the ''Bombay City Gazetteer'' published in 1909, these tanks were often very low and had to be replenished by sinking new wells.
In 1846, the city faced an acute
water shortage
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where ...
following which Framji Cowasji sank three wells in its gardens to provide water by steam machinery. Later in 1856, the city faced a severe
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
, and an edict was set out relocating all
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
to
Mahim
Mahim (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɦiːm(Marathi language, Marathi: माहिम) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway zone, Western Railway and Harbou ...
, which was the periphery of the city at that time. Thousands would gather daily around the tank at Esplanade to collect water, while the government brought thousands of water drums from far off distances to empty into wells at
Bori Bunder
Bori Bunder (also known as Bori Bandar) is an area along the Eastern shore line of Mumbai, India.
Background
This place was used as a storehouse for goods imported and exported from Mumbai. In the local language, 'Bori' mean sack and 'Bandar' ...
,
Chinch Bunder, and
Dongri
Dongri is a port city in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, Mira-Bhayandar municipality of Thane district, situated just north of Gorai, Mumbai. The word 'Overall, Dungaree' (worker's overalls worn in Britain) has its origin in Dongri due ...
.
After a regular water supply to the city was established from the
Vihar and
Tulsi
''Ocimum tenuiflorum'', commonly known as holy basil, ''tulsi'' or ''tulasi'', is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and widespread as a cultivated plant throughout the Southeast Asian ...
lakes, the tanks were declared redundant. They soon became a breeding ground for
mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es and consequently were filled in. The famous Gowalia Tank Maidan is on top of the original tank.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanks Of Bombay
History of Mumbai
Buildings and structures in Mumbai
Water supply infrastructure in India
1775 establishments in British India