Mumbai: BMC’s sewage to potable water plan finds no takers

The Lovegrove pumping station at Worli. In the first phase, wastewater will be treated before being released

The civic corporation's quest for potable water by recycling Mumbai's sewage has got longer, with the BMC struggling to find a consultant for the ambitious project. The corporation last month had invited bids to appoint a consultant with November 11 as the deadline for the submission of bids, but it got no response. It has now extended the date to December 17.

The BMC recently finalised a group of contractors to recycle the city's wastewater under a Rs 26,000-crore initiative. While the initial plan was to release the treated water into natural water bodies, civic officials have started exploring the possibility of making the treated water potable. "We are still awaiting bids. It will take some time," said Vasant Gaikwad, chief engineer of BMC's water supply project. Since this is a big project, another civic official said, "There are lots of queries from consultants. We need to first solve them."

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Once a consultant is engaged, officials said, it will study all aspects for a year. "This includes a study on the existing water supply network, how a new network can be created, how it can be connected to the existing network, and what process needs to be done on treated sewage," said a BMC official.

Mumbai receives 3,950 million litres of water daily from seven reservoirs, though it requires about 4,200 million litres a day. Officials said BMC plans to treat 2,404 million litres of wastewater daily under Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project -2 and has upgraded 6 pumping stations. But this treated water will further need to be recycled to make it drinkable.

"New cities are developing near Mumbai. If the water needs of Mumbai increase in the future it will be difficult to build dams and bring water from outside the city because other cities will also need water. Therefore projects such as desalination and treating sewage for potable water are needed," said the civic official.

3,950
City's daily water quota in million litres