Mumbai: With only 5.37hr of average supply, Mumbai faced a 15% water shortfall in 2024, revealed Praja Foundation’s report on ‘The Status of Civic Issues in Mumbai’. The report also highlighted that while the pollution levels of the city’s water resources are at an all-time high, only one ward receives 24hr water supply whereas all the upscale wards receive only up to 4hr of water daily.
On Tuesday, the Praja Foundation released its white paper on ‘The Status of Civic Issues in Mumbai’ with a focus on water, sewerage, solid waste management, toilets and air quality. The report also included the status of Mumbai Climate Action Plan based on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) environmental status report (ESR).
The report’s biggest highlight was the city’s water supply of 3,975 million litres per day (MLD) in 2024, which fell 15% short of the city’s total demand of 4,664 MLD, after 395 MLD loss. Due to the shortfall, slum households in the city received only 45 litres per capita per day (lpcd) supply against the norms set by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) guidelines of 135lpcd.
According to the report, only T ward that includes Mulund received 24hr water supply last year, whereas multiple upscale wards including localities like Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Bandra (W) and Andheri (W) were supplied water for only up to four hours every day. Against the prescribed norm of less than 3mg/ltr biological oxygen demand (BOD) in water bodies, the city’s river, sea and creek water recorded 18mg/ltr BOD in 2023. The infamous Mithi river recorded a BOD of 210mg/ltr during the same time, becoming a bigger concern.
Milind Mhaske, CEO of Praja Foundation, said, ““Mumbai’s water supply system struggles with significant disparities between the available water resources and how they are distributed throughout the city. Mumbai receives a significant supply of water daily, but due to pipeline losses, only 85% of the demand is fulfilled. The slum households therefore rely on costly private tankers. The promise of 24x7 water supply remains unfulfilled as only 8% of the city got round-the-clock water in 2024.”
The report highlighted that C ward which contains no slum population, A ward with 34% slums and H/West with 39% slums recorded the highest per capita waste generation per day in 2024, higher slum population wards like R/South, R/North and D ward recorded the lowest per capita waste.
It also highlighted that BMC is far from achieving its target for bio-mining 70 lakh MT waste in Mulund Dumping Ground as it completed only 62% work till December 2024 while the deadline of June 2025 comes closer. The report claimed that BMC can save approximately Rs1,485 crores annually with a decentralised solid waste management process.
The report highlighted that 41% of sanctioned posts in the BMC were vacant in 2024. The departments with the highest number of vacancies included water supply, sewerage, planning, labour and garden.
Civic Complaints Increased By 25% In Seven Years
According to the information received by Praja through RTI, the total number of complaints received in 2024 were 1.15 lakh against 92,000 in 2017, which saw a rise of 25%. The information also highlighted that the civic body closed 83% of the total complaints in 2017 but could close only 76% of the complaints in 2024.
Meanwhile, the average days to resolve a complaint decreased from 48 days to 41 days, while PRAJA Foundation suggests that a civic complaint should be ideally closed within an average of six days.
Praja Foundation Highlights Discrepancies In BMC and CPCB Data
Praja Foundation highlighted discrepancies in data shared by BMC, CPCB and the information received through RTI. The NGO alleged that while BMC’s waste generation data as per its ESR shows different figures of waste generated every day, the data sought from BMC through RTI shows higher waste generation.
It also raised concerns regarding uniform statistics from 2019 to 2024 in ESR’s domestic waste composition data. Similarly, it highlighted that CPCB’s data shows 5,400MPN/100ml fecal coliform in Mithi river in 2022, the level rose to 5.40lakh MPN/100ml within one year, which seems like an error.
