It will be years before Mumbai surmounts its water crisis

The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. And, this year’s theme is “Coping with Water Scarcity”.

Go to any chawl, housing society and slum in Mumbai, and you will hear a cacophony of complaints related to safe drinking water or lack of it.

Mumbai needs 4,000 million litres of drinking water every day (MLD) to assuage the thirsty of its 1.25 cr residents. But the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reports that it can only supply 3,300 MLD, leading to a shortfall of 700 MLD.

This shortfall, many believe, will continue to get bigger if the state and the civic body doesn’t take immediate steps to address the crisis. And, even residents need to do their part to use water judiciously. 

March 22 was World Water Day, and this year’s theme mirrors the growing water needs of an emerging nation and city. BMC Standing Committee chairman Ravindra Waikar says, “Mumbai’s main problem is that since the Koyna Dam was constructed in 1960, we have not constructed any major dam or lake in the city. Though everybody is talking about the new airport, infrastructure and flyovers, no one bothers about the water problem.”

TV Shah, officer on special duty (Water Department), says the state could learn a lot from smaller states such as Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya that generate 2,700mw of power and are selling to power-starved states. “Konkan receives more rain water than Meghalaya,” argues Shah. “We need to get serious of trapping this water and making judicious use of it. But Mumbai is not the only city facing an acute water problem. Even New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad are in bad shape.”

To solve the water scarcity problem in the city, BMC Engineers Association registered a Plumbers Association to discuss distribution of water. Considering that Mumbai’s water supply system is over 130 years old and eight largest in the world, it’s an initiative whose time has come.

The divide between the uber rich and the very poor appears stark when it is considered that a slumdweller from Dharavi makes do with 35-40 litres of water daily while the upper-middle class living in towers and posh Bandra localities consume about 300-400 litres to wash their cars and for gardening. 

“With more than half the population living in slums, there is a glaring disparity in the city’s water distribution,” states a water report. “To supplement their meagre water supply, many slumdwellers are tapping into larger pipelines to ‘steal’ water.”

Mumbai’s water supply is dependent on six lakes such as Modak Sagar, Tansa, Tulsi, Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna and Vihar. The good news, BMC Commissioner Johny Joseph says, is that the Centre recently agreed to release Rs1,300 cr to address Mumbai’s water scarcity problem.