BMC Plans to Cut 10% Water Loss to Recover 400 Million Litres Daily in Mumbai
As much as 34% of the approximately 4,100 million litres per day (MLD) of water supplied across Mumbai is currently lost as non-revenue water (NRW) due to leakages, theft, and other distribution losses, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has reported. To tackle this, the civic body aims to reduce non-revenue water losses by at least 10%, an initiative that could recover roughly 400 MLD of water for the city.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar presented these figures to the civic standing committee on Thursday. He noted that the current non-revenue water level has stood at 34% since 2024. While substantial losses continue across the supply network, this figure represents an improvement from the 38% loss rate recorded between 2021 and 2023.
Bangar explained to the standing committee that bringing down the figure further by at least 10% is a target that may take time to achieve, but it would carry significant advantages. Reducing non-revenue water by that margin could potentially make around 400 MLD of additional water available to the residents of Mumbai.
Civic officials stressed the scale of such a recovery, comparing it directly to major infrastructure additions. Bangar pointed out that recovering 400 MLD would be particularly significant because it is roughly equivalent to the water yield expected from the proposed Gargai dam project. The Gargai dam is planned to augment Mumbai's overall water supply by 440 MLD in the coming years.
Outlining methods to cut down these ongoing losses, Bangar stated that one key measure is to regularise unauthorised water connections in parts of the city where municipal supply can legally be provided. Converting illegal or informal lines into official connections allows the civic administration to account for the water distributed and recover revenue.
Highlighting progress already achieved on this front, Bangar informed the committee: "BMC has already provided 26,774 water connections under its Water for All initiative between June 2022 and Aug 2026. So instead of such water going down as NRW it is better that the BMC gains out of it."
In addition to connection regularisation, Bangar stated that a dedicated tanker policy is currently in the pipeline and will be brought out shortly. The forthcoming policy aims to tighten oversight on private water tankers operating across the city.
According to the civic administration, the incoming rules will ensure that water tankers—which largely supply bulk commercial establishments like Mumbai's five-star hotels—do not suck water out of the municipal civic water system. Instead, the policy will mandate that these private tankers source their water exclusively from wells.
