BMC supplies 3850 MLD of water per day to Mumbai with a population of around 13 million. While the daily requirement is about 4400 MLD of water. Keeping in view the future water requirement of Mumbaikars, BMC is working on long term water projects. This includes Gargai Project, Pinjal and Daman Ganga Project. BMC expects to supply 440 MLD water from Gargai Project by 2027, 865 MLD from Pinjal by 2025 and 1586 MLD from Daman Ganga Project by 2030. Mumbai is expected to get more than 2891 MLD of water per day from these three projects. BMC has already started preparing for the future water needs of Mumbai. BMC has estimated in a survey that from the year 2036 to 2041, the population of Mumbai will increase to 1.72 crores. Then Mumbai would require 6535 MLD of water per day.
An official of BMC Hydraulic Department said that considering the future needs of Mumbaikars, BMC has started making this plan. In this, a blueprint has been prepared for how to complete the water supply projects on time. Mumbai is currently supplied with water from Vihar, Tulsi, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna and Bhatsa lakes. In this, except Tulsi and Vihar, all the lakes are 100 to 150 kilometers away. At the same time, for more than a decade, BMC has been trying to start water projects like Gargai, Pinjal and Daman Ganga. The BMC official said that the Pinjal project has gained momentum after the Eknath Shinde government came to power in the state. The project is now expected to be completed by the end of the year 2025.
Similarly, a dam and a tunnel of about 2.1 km length are to be constructed for the Gargai project. For this, the work of DPR is in progress by CDO Nashik. For this, the work of taking clearance of wild life and forest is being done. Same is the condition of Daman Ganga project. Although the project is still in its nascent stage, it is most important for future water supply to Mumbai. With this, Mumbai is expected to get 1586 MLD water every day. BMC has focused on Manori project to desalinate sea water. This project is expected to provide 200 MLD water per day initially and later 400 MLD water per day. The official said that consultants have been appointed for these projects. It is expected that the tender process will also start soon.
BMC delivers water from reservoirs to consumers through feeder and distribution pipe lines through approximately 3 lakh, 60 thousand water connections in Mumbai. This includes pipelines ranging from 150 to 2400 mm in diameter. Every day around 1,000 valves are opened to ensure water supply to the citizens. About 1,150 engineers and 8950 other employees provide their services in supplying water in Mumbai.
BMC’s policies and political pressure did not allow these projects to move forward for almost a decade. With the change of BMC Commissioner, the policies of the administration for such projects change. At the same time, the importance of the project increases or decreases with the change of government. After the Uddhav Thackeray government came to power in the state, the Gargai project was put on hold by BMC citing environment. At the same time, all the attention was focused on the project of sweetening sea water in Manori, Malad. After the change of government, the BMC Commissioner’s stance regarding the project suddenly changed. Now consultants have been appointed for the Gargai and Pinjal projects and the tender process is said to start soon. BMC, which had shown the dream of providing 24-hour water supply to Mumbai, is still not able to provide water as per the requirement, so BMC itself is largely responsible for this.
