Is Mumbai’s Water Supply Network Lagging Behind?

In what came as a relief to Mumbaikars was lakes were full after the city witnessed heavy rains this year. Owing to this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) confirmed that there won’t be any water cuts till June 24. As of September 30, the lakes were 99.23 per cent full. However, as per latest data revealed by the BMC, the water stock in all lakes is 98.44 per cent as on today, October 9, 6 am.

🚰मुंबईला पाणीपुरवठा करणाऱ्या ७ जलाशयांचा आज सकाळी ६ वाजेपर्यंतचा अहवाल

🚰Report of water stock in the seven lakes, supplying water to Mumbai, till 6am today.… pic.twitter.com/G0TgAeAnIN

— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) October 9, 2023

Despite this excellent news, the events of the past few years paint a different image. The city reportedly experienced water shortages in three of the last four years, despite data showing that the lakes were full by the end of the monsoon season. This simply serves to highlight that the city's water supply network is still lagging at some point in water distribution.

Several parts of the city are suffering at the worst level. Consider Charkop, the area in the Western suburbs of Kandivali. It used to be home to multiple chawls, but over the past 40 years, uncontrolled gentrification has severely strained available resources. The chawls in these areas are restructured by owners. Now the structures here are G+two storey.

Some old buildings have been torn down and towers are constructed on those lands. Water usage per household has increased along with the population. The pipelines, however, are identical in size and have deteriorated. Thus, the citizens experience a water deficit practically regularly.

In Koldongri, Andheri, the citizens complain about reduced water pressure in August. They were facing the issue, despite BMC stating that there were no water reductions being made by them. 

In Borivali borewells are currently being used by newer structures in the western suburbs to supply some of their water requirements. Residents of the recently constructed societies claimed to have a borewell. While water supplied to them from the civic body is utilized for their kitchens and bathrooms, the network provides water for toilets.

In 2002, the state government had implemented a compulsion on Rain Water Harvesting . But the initiative is simply staying on papers and there is hardly any implementation being seen around the state. BMC’s cell of Rain Water Harvest is inactive and the civic body has no data about buildings in Mumbai having this feature.

Additionally, the BMC lacks information on housing societies whose developers were granted approval to build their project under the condition that they would install sewage water treatment plants (STPs) and recycle the treated water. 

However, a few buildings, like Godrej Prime in Sahakar Nagar, Kurla, include both STP and rainwater harvesting. Godrej Prime members asserted that they have an underground rainwater tank that holds one lakh litres of water, and that the water lasts for four to five months for non-potable uses like washing automobiles. The complexes utilize the 80,000 litres of water per day produced by the STP, which was developed by the developer. The Godrej Prime Committee further stated that they only needed half of it and were willing to share the remaining treated water with others in order to recoup the plant's maintenance costs. Maintenance of such plants costs around INR 7000 to INR 8000.

Tankers that deliver non-potable water to building sites are also available. "We offer an average of 50 million liters of non-potable water from wells, primarily for construction projects," said Rajesh Thakur, secretary of the Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA), the apex organization of operators distributing potable and non-potable water. He furtehr added, "The demand rises when the BMC enforces cuts or if the pipeline bursts. We deliver potable water from civic pipelines directly to the societies or slums."

The city's water needs are still not being satisfied. These measures just fulfil a small portion of the city's water needs.