With the existing water supply infrastructure of the twin-city already under huge pressure, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has decided to stop issuing new water connections to multistoried constructions having more than four floors.
The decision aimed at countering the looming water crisis and maintaining the current level of supply to existing users was taken by municipal commissioner Sanjay Katkar in his capacity as administrator of the MBMC. The ban will remain in force till the commissioning of the Surya Regional Water Supply Project which is likely to augment supply by 218 million litres per day (MLD) in May-2025.
Suraj Water Project |
As against the requirement of more than 235 MLD, the twin-city has an allotted supply of 221 MLD, provided jointly by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (135 MLD) and Shahad Temghar (STEM) water authority (86 MLD). However, the actual supply is restricted to around 192 MLD due to short supply and in-transit distribution losses which are to the order of 15 percent. The water woes are further compounded owing to frequent shutdowns by both the providers, unaccounted supply and theft.
As the much awaited 218 MLD Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme being executed under the aegis of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) inches towards completion, the MBMC has also fast-tracked its project to overhaul the internal water network system to facilitate smooth distribution in the twin-city.
With Surya Dam at Dhamani village in Jawhar as the source, the Surya project will supply water amounting to 403 MLD which will be divided between Mira Bhayandar and Vasai Virar in a proportion of 218 and 185 MLD respectively. As per the MBMC registry, a total of 44,887 water lines including 41,683 for residential usage and 3,204 for commercial/industrial purposes have been issued in the twin-city.
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