Mumbai Water Facts

Nine cities, one contested source pool

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region is served by nine municipal corporations - Greater Mumbai (BMC), Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Ulhasnagar and Panvel - drawing on a shared, contested set of dams. There is no single regional water utility, so a surplus in one city and rationing in the next are negotiated between separate bodies over the same rivers.

Mumbai takes two-thirds of the region's water

Greater Mumbai commands about 67% of the MMR's developed water resources. In 1999 the Pinjal source, originally earmarked for Vasai-Virar, was reallocated to Mumbai - an early sign of how the core city's claims override the periphery's. The further a corporation sits from Mumbai, the less water its residents get.

Greater Mumbai's supply gap

Praja Foundation's 2024 audit puts BMC supply at about 3,975 million litres a day against a demand of 4,664 - a ~15% (689 MLD) shortfall, rationed unevenly across the city before a single litre is lost to leaks. And this is the best-supplied corporation in the region.

Non-revenue water (leaks + theft)

The BMC's own 2024 audit puts non-revenue water at about 34% - roughly 1,343 MLD lost to leaks, metering gaps and theft every day, up from 27% in 2018. That lost volume alone is close to Greater Mumbai's entire supply-demand gap.

BMC's eighth source: Gargai dam

In December 2025 the BMC floated a Rs 3,000 crore tender for the Gargai dam in Palghar, Mumbai's first new water source since Middle Vaitarna in 2014. It would add about 440 MLD but submerge roughly 2,100 acres of the Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary forest and displace some 619 tribal families.

A 3.6x water gap across one metro

Per-capita supply inside the same region ranges from about 252 litres a day in Mumbai to 105 in Mira-Bhayandar, 100 in Bhiwandi and just 70 in Vasai-Virar - against a CPHEEO norm of 135-150. The gap between the core city and its neighbours rivals the gap between rich and poor inside Mumbai itself.

Slum vs non-slum access, within Mumbai

Praja Foundation's 2024 audit finds metered slum households in Greater Mumbai receive about 45 litres per person per day against 135 for non-slum households - a threefold gap inside the wealthiest corporation (the CPHEEO service norm itself is 135-150 LPCD). A peer-reviewed study (Mandala et al. 2023) finds non-notified slums use 38% less than notified ones even after controlling for income and religion.

Half of Bengaluru's connections, twice its people

Greater Mumbai has just 5.5 lakh water connections for over 1.2 crore people - roughly 23 people per connection - because BMC counts connections per building: one connection typically serves an entire society, chawl or slum cluster. Bengaluru's plotted low-rise pattern yields nearly twice as many connections for a smaller population. Connection counts are not comparable across cities, and none of them says how many households a pipe actually reaches.

The scramble for new sources

The region is chasing new supply on every side. The Surya scheme (403 MLD) began feeding Vasai-Virar in November 2023, with Mira-Bhayandar's 218 MLD phase still in build; the Kalu dam (1,140 MLD), long stalled by forest and tribal-displacement disputes, is meant for Thane, Bhiwandi, Kalyan-Dombivli and Ulhasnagar. Each is run by a different agency - MMRDA, KIDC, the corporations - with no single plan.

Wards with 24x7 supply

Only one of Greater Mumbai's 24 administrative wards (T / Mulund) receives round-the-clock water. Citywide the average supply is about 5.37 hours a day, and roughly 71% of zones get under four hours - the inequality is in duration and pressure, not only in volume.

What a slum household pays for water

Households that fall outside the piped network buy from tankers at roughly Rs 729 per person a month, against about Rs 25 for a metered connection - the poorest pay the most. An April 2025 tanker strike pushed the BMC to invoke the Disaster Management Act, the first known use of it for a water-distribution dispute.

Greater Mumbai's seven lakes

BMC is supplied entirely by seven impounded lakes - Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Vihar and Tulsi. Bhatsa alone provides about 48% of the city's water; Vihar and Tulsi, the two oldest (1860 and 1879), under 3% between them. The other corporations draw on their own dams - Barvi for the eastern corridor, the Surya scheme for the west, Morbe for Navi Mumbai.