Water Woes: Mumbai Likely to Experience Water Scarcity in Summer Months Due to Depleting Reservoir Capacity

Mumbai currently receives 3,900 million litres of water per day from seven reservoirs. Mumbai needs 50 TMC (million cubic feet) of water every year. In such water, 500,000 hectares of farmland can come under perennial irrigation. In Mumbai, 80 per cent of the water supplied is converted into sewage. 

Most of the water goes to the sea in the form of sewage. The National Green Tribunal and the Union Environment Ministry have directed to start of a sewage treatment plant as the sewage is increasing pollution in the sea. Accordingly, such projects are being constructed at seven places in Mumbai.

Sewage treatment plants have been set up at five places so that treated sewage water can be used for purposes other than drinking. This water can be used in parks and toilets. Also, big companies in Mumbai need water in addition to drinking.  Treated sewage water will be sold, but the rates have not been fixed yet. The civic body says Mumbai's water leakage rate is usually 25 to 30 per cent. 

A desalination plant with a capacity of 200 million litres per day will be set up at Manori. The project is expensive and there seems to be no plan regarding the water's distribution.

The citizens of Navi Mumbai will not have to face water shortages. This is because the Morbi dam has 66 per cent water stock left and it can be supplied til August 25. The Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation gets water from the Surya Dam and Usgaon Dam, but it is not enough for the current population. Recently, 185 million litres of water have been added to the Surya project. As a result, people on the waiting list for the last 10 years are now getting water connections.

The rest of Thane district is unlikely to experience water problems. Barvi and Andhra dams are likely to supply water by the end of June. More than 45 per cent of the state's total urban population lives in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. According to the Chitale Commission, the demand for water in the region in 2011 was 7,610 million litres per day. It is expected to reach 11,279 million litres in 2034. There has been no increase in the water source except for the height of the Barvi and the middle Vaitarna. It is not known when dams like Kalu, Shai, Gargai, Pinjal, Damanganga, Susri, and Poshir will be completed. Dams like Kondhane and Balganga have been in the news due to irrigation scams, but the policymakers seem to have turned a blind eye to it.