There seems to be a perpetual water shortage in Mumbai, requiring the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to continually seek new water sources. To fulfil Mumbai’s ever-growing demand for water, a new dam is in the pipeline. The State Wildlife Board has given their approval for the construction of the Gargai dam over 845 hectares of land in Palghar. The dam will provide 440 million litres of water per day (MLD). Environmentalists have expressed concern over the effects of this dam. This will lead to the displacement of 619 families. Moreover, 2.1 lakh trees will be cut to make way for the dam.
Historically, we have seen the effect of dam construction on the people living near the dam. Not only do they face displacement, but even after the dam is built, villages around the dam face water shortage. “You will find many news reports, especially in Shahapur Taluk, where those hamlets face water scarcity routinely in the summer months. And those hamlets are just next to the dams supplying water to the city,” says Sachin Tiwale, Fellow at the Water and Society Programme at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).
Currently, the BMC distributes around 4,000 MLD of water to Mumbai. Is this truly insufficient for Mumbai? Activists and scholars say that around 30% of water is wasted through technical factors like leakages or theft. Moreover, the distribution network in Mumbai is old, and the infrastructure is ageing, points out Sachin. In addition to this, despite receiving such a huge quantum of water, the distribution of water in Mumbai is grossly inequitable, with people living in informal settlements struggling to access water.
Citizen Matters spoke to Sachin Tiwale about the narrative around water scarcity and the reasons for the same. He has authored two papers on this subject: ‘Taming’ a Wicked Problem: Selective Problematisation of Issues of Urban Water Supply in Mumbai, and Number Narratives of Water Shortages: Delinking Water Resources Development from Water Distribution in Mumbai, India.
In this video interview, Sachin talks about the gross inequities in water distribution in the MMR region, the tanker strike and the lack of accountability and transparency of municipal bodies.