Nagpur, Dec 10 (IANS) Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday informed the Assembly that the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to meet the growing demand and ensure sufficient water, is focusing on the completion of projects like Gargai, Pinjal, and Daman Ganga-Pinjal River linking, and to create additional water reserves.

This is necessary as Mumbai currently receives 3,800 MLD (Million Litres per Day) of water, but the required daily demand is estimated to be between 4,500 MLD and 4,800 MLD.

In a written reply to a question by Shiv Sena(UBT) member Sunil Prabhu and others, he said that due to the large-scale residential and infrastructure development in Mumbai, the population is increasing, which is leading to greater demand for water. The multi-purpose Gargai project, which involves constructing a dam to meet the water needs of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, is currently in its final stages of primary engineering and preparation of tender documents.

In the case of the Pinjal project, preliminary engineering work is underway for the proposed dam development. Following primary approval for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), detailed project report (DPR) preparation is now in progress.

As far as the Daman Ganga-Pinjal River Linking Project (inter-state project) is concerned, procedures for obtaining the necessary agreement and approvals from the Centre are currently in progress at various levels.

In addition to these dam projects, the BMC is also implementing non-conventional methods to secure the water supply.

A desalination project with a capacity of 200 MLD (expandable to 400 MLD) is being implemented in Kulaba (Colaba) to convert seawater into potable water. The work for a ‘Tertiary Level Water Purification Project’ with a capacity of 12 MLD is underway at the municipal level to further treat and purify available water resources.

Dy CM Shinde reiterated that in a bid to secure and augment the water supply for the burgeoning population of Mumbai, the BMC is actively pursuing several large-scale projects, according to recent updates. These initiatives are aimed at bridging the gap between current supply and future demand, which has been exacerbated by rapid development and population growth.

–IANS

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