Mumbai’s water problem: Building new dams will not solve the city’s poor distribution network
The metropolitan region already receives enough water for its current needs with projections overestimating future requirements.
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As levels in the lakes that supply water to Mumbai plunged to 5% this summer for the first time since 2019, the city’s municipal corporation has dusted off plans to build a dam on the Gargai river in Wada taluka of Palghar district, north of the city. The project had been shelved because it will submerge around 840 hectares of forest land.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is also expediting plans to build a desalination plant, a dam in Palghar’s Jawhar taluka and to link the Damanganga and Pinjal rivers by constructing two dams and tunnels to bring water from Gujarat.
These capital-intensive projects costing more than Rs 22,477 crore aim to deliver an additional 3,200 million litres per day. Mumbai currently receives 3,850 million litres of water a day but by 2041 is estimated to need 5,940 MLD.
However, these projections are overestimated and must be scrutinised for their validity. The challenge that really needs to be addressed is to efficiently manage the water already within the city’s distribution network.
The upcoming water desalination plant by the BMC in Manori, in Mumbai, is a huge waste of money.
Mumbai is one of the wettest megacities in the world. We receive enough and more rainfall in the MMR region thanks...
