To tide over the shortfall of potable water in the city, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will fall back on sewage water - after being purified, of course - for non-drinking purposes like gardening, car-washing and fire fighting.
A Rs200-crore plan is being put in place, wherein sequencing batch reactors will be installed at pumping stations in Colaba and Love Grove, Worli, for distillation of the sewage water.
The BMC also wants to ensure that potable water is used only for drinking and not any other purpose.
The Colaba pumping station can generate 40 million litres per day (MLD) and the Love Grove one, 300 MLD water. Anil Diggikar, additional municipal commissioner, said, “Now, the BMC treats the waste water and discharges it into the sea as per Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s norms. It is a very primary treatment which separates non-dissolved residue and the clear water that emerges is then discharged into the sea to avoid sea pollution. In the new technology, there will be a secondary treatment making it non-potable water.”
The exercise will not really solve Mumbai’s water woes, but can contribute in easing the situation.
The city receives 3,400 MLD water, of which 600 MLD is lost, thanks to leakages and theft. The city’s water demand is 4,000 million liters per day. The BMC has limited sources of water, dependent as it is on six lakes to meet the water requirement of the city.
Rainwater harvesting: BMC had earmarked Rs300 crore for rainwater harvesting, and being implemented in six major civic hospitals. The water generated can help the hospital in washing the clothes and scrubbing the floor. As a pilot project for nearly 25 gardens in the city, the BMC is also digging more wells, which will be recharged by the water collected through the rainwater harvesting.
The hydraulic department had directed 24 executive engineers of as many municipal wards to implement the project in their respective wards.
