Mid-Day Special: How water management collapsed in Mumbai and MMR

While global cities are looking for solutions for drought years amid the rising threat of global warming and uncertain climate changes cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR are struggling to meet currentday water supply needs As the monsoon season ends dams and rivers supplying water to MMR are overflowing While this is a good sign there is still no certainty that cities in MMR considered engines of growth will get water without any supply cuts MMR with a population of around 26 crore is already facing a shortage of at least 950 million litres 15 per cent for the daily requirementKids playing on water pipelines in Bandra civic bodies blame slum clusters for leakages and illegal water connections PicAtul KambleThough the water requirement of MMR is projected to double by 2050 the administration feels that the condition is not so intense BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said ldquoAs of today all dams are almost 100 per cent full and with that we will manage supply for the next 10 months up to July 2025 end There isnt a panic situation regarding water supplyrdquo Gagrani is right Going by the chart of current water supply as per population the BMC and the Navi Mumbai and Thane civic bodies have been supplying 200 litres or more water per person per day which is more than the national norms of 135 litres for buildings and 55 litres for slumsWhat is the problemThe dams were 100 per cent full last year too By rough calculation cities use 10 per cent of total stock every month October to July but by May 22 this year the lake levels reached below 10 per cent So obviously the water stock wouldnrsquot have lasted for another two months As the Lok Sabha elections were over by then the BMC immediately imposed water cuts Within two days every other corporation including Navi Mumbai which has the highest perperson water supply imposed cuts The cuts were withdrawn after two months in midJuly after dams had sufficient stock For at least the last three years every summer the cities face such water cutsMunicipal corporations and councils struggle with leakagesA decade ago there were discussions and plans for 247 water supply but now cities barely get water for two to four hours per day Water management efforts seem to have collapsed in MMR The six prominent corporations in MMR received 5897 million litres per day MLD of water against the requirement of 6745 MLD which will reach 11069 MLD in 2050MIDC which supplies 822 MLD in MMR requested the Water Resource Department to increase the reservation of 397 MLD additional water but the department refused stating that this grant cannot be made till the development of new water sources Former deputy municipal commissioner of BMCrsquos hydraulics department Madhukar Kambale pointed out ldquoNot just population of a particular city but even floating population is important while speaking of water requirementrdquo He said a family of four in a small house uses less water but water demand for a 1000 sq ft house even if it is occupied by only four members is almost doubleNo planning for rain deficitSo there isnrsquot any question of water management for drought years ldquoFortunately the Konkan region has never faced a severe drought As of now there isnt a demandsupply gap in Navi Mumbai and we are working on future solutions like the appointment of a technical committee for identification of new sources from the Bhira project But in case of drought curtailment of daily water supply is the only wayrdquo said civic hydraulics department executive engineer Vasanth Padghan from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation NMMC The Konkan region received deficit rain in 2009 2014 and 2015 and there have been water cuts every year since 2014mdashexcept in 2017 and 2019mdashin almost all cities in MMR Amid global warming risks the risk of droughts in the near future cannot be ruled outDependency on stateExcept for Mumbai and Navi Mumbai no other corporation has its own water source and their future plans depend only on ldquorequestingrdquo the state for more water Though there are few plans going on at the corporation level these corporations are highly dependent on state funding to construct dams or improve water distribution systemsldquoThere were at least four damsmdashKalu Shai Pinjar and Poshirmdashthat were proposed for Thane in the last 30 years I worked on these proposals but still not a single dam is completed Though the state government can help in water sources it is the corporationsrsquo responsibility to establish new water sources with onethird funding from the state and onethird loan from financial institutesrdquo said Milind Kelkar former joint secretary in Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran and member of expert committees of various authorities to improve water management as well as work for water conservations through NGOsldquoMMR is a growth engine of India and the state government helps improve infrastructure Construction of dams requires huge amounts of money and corporations canrsquot afford it Having a dam of their own the corporations can control the water stock In MMR water is distributed by dams of MIDC MMRDA and CIDCO which are under the control of the state government and can rearrange supply as per demands So these corporations can rely on itrdquo said a senior IAS officer who handled issues in these citiesOver 30 per cent leakagesThe issue is not limited to only water stock Municipal corporations and councils are struggling with over 30 per cent leakages that makes the situation more concerning Unequal distribution of water to areas adds more woes The nonrevenue water NRW of Mumbai sometimes reaches as high as 38 per centLeakages unauthorised connections water theft and metering inaccuracies were some of the reasons for the high percentage of unmetered water supply Gagrani has accepted that leakage is a big challenge Gagrani asserted ldquoThe water demandsupply gap is not much It is the distribution system and leakages which need to be tackled The BMC is improving the network but cutting down leakages which are mostly due to water theft in a few areas through illegal connections and booster pumps is a challengerdquoThe BMC recently requested water experts to help control the water level at reservoirs so that water pressure can be managed till the end of the network Thane is also facing massive problems due to leakages and unequal distribution While other areas of the corporation donrsquot face water issues new complexes on Ghodbunder Road still get water from tankers ldquoConstruction of water lines and reservoirs is going on under the Amrut schemerdquo said an official from Thane Municipal Corporation TMCWhat about the slumsThe slum dwellers are not getting the minimum required amount of water The BMC rolled out the lsquoWater for Allrsquo scheme in April 2022 to give connections to even lsquoillegalrsquo houses but less than 40 per cent have benefited from it Sitaram Shelar founder of Pani Haq Samiti said ldquoWe applied for 1500 connections to date and only 600 received connections while other applications are on hold due to criteria which cannot be met in slums Even the BMC agreed that out of 4000 applications only 1500 have been processed to date Five to 15 families apply for one connection It means approximately 25000 families and a population of 125 lakh are still waiting for connectionsrdquo Shelar added that though the BMC blames the slums for water theft wastage by residents and pipeline leakages are the major issuesFacts about water supply and usagegtgt Traditionally Indians use more water for bathing and cleaning Humid weather and dust also lead to cleaning oftengtgt Water demand doesnrsquot just depend on population growth but the area of each house It also depends on the floating population which is more than 50 lakh in Mumbaigtgt The water production cost is Rs 25 per thousand litres and the BMC charges Rs 636 per thousand litres of water for residential flats and Rs 528 for slums In Thane the cost of water supply is around Rs 250 crore per year but the TMC received only Rs 150 crore as charges