In order to tide over the rising demand of water and meet its requirement till 2055, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has formed a special committee to find alternative water resources. At present, the civic body has Morbe dam that has enough water to meet the demand of present average population of 17.5 lakh.
With a number of mega infrastructure projects including Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) lined up, the requirement for water will increase in years to come. As restriction on the height of buildings has also been removed, more high-rises will come with additional units of houses, the present water resources will not be adequate to cater the future need. As per survey conducted by MMRDA, the population of the NMMC area will be approximately 44 lakh by 2055, after 32 years. In addition, the process of including 14 villages in the NMMC area is underway and discussions were held regarding the future development of that area.
Water provision for a rapidly developing Navi Mumbai
Considering the rapid development of Navi Mumbai, which is known as a water-rich city due to its self-owned Morbe Dam project, the future will require increased water resources. Civic chief Rajesh Narvekar has taken the initiative and formed a special committee. A meeting of the committee was held on Tuesday where various water sources of water were discussed. The meeting was attended by civic chief Narvekar who is also the chairman of the committee, City Engineer Sanjay Desai, retired city engineer Mohan Dagaonkar, IIT Mumbai Prof Dr Jyoti Prakash, retired Chief Engineer of Maharashtra Jal Pradhikaran Milind Kelkar among others.
Earlier, NMMC had appointed consultant Yash Engineering to study present sources of water and find alternate resources to meet the future needs of water.
NMMC studies water availability in areas under it's jurisdiction
The consultant presented various options before the committee for consideration after studying various alternatives carefully, such as use of ground water, water availability from water sources near NMMC area, increasing the height of Morbe dam, tapping water sources like Kondhane water source, Balganga water source, lifting of water from Patalganga river during rainy season, water from Kundalika river, and water from Bhira dam.
Since the period of CIDCO when NMMC was not formed, water supply of 200 litres per person per day has been maintained and accordingly it has been planned that the future water supply requirement should be estimated. It was also considered that the report of the Chitale Committee should be taken as a basis for this. While considering the future need of water supply in the NMMC area, the civic body has to coordinate with CIDCO and neighboring Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC).
