BMC wakes up to groundwater ‘crisis’

On the back of a poor monsoon this year, the BMC is set to conduct a pilot study on the “effect of excess groundwater withdrawal.

AMID worries over depleting water tables in drought-hit Marathwada, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is staring at a likely water supply crisis in the financial capital, has finally woken up to the issue of Mumbai’s groundwater levels.

On the back of a poor monsoon this year, the BMC is set to conduct a pilot study on the “effect of excess groundwater withdrawal”, officials confirmed. While borewells have multiplied exponentially across the suburbs of Mumbai over the years, there has been no scientific assessment of the impact of these borewells on Mumbai’s water table.

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The survey, to be undertaken in 2016, will be conducted by the Pune-based Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA). It will be conducted in the M-East and P-South wards, which include the areas of Chembur and Goregaon, respectively.

“Though we had initiated the same project in 2011, it could not be completed because of staff crunch in the civic body. We have now invited a fresh proposal for the study. We have selected the areas of Chembur and Goregaon, where there are maximum number of borewells,” said a senior official in BMC’s rainwater harvesting cell.

The cost of the project is about Rs 28 lakh. The agency will be asked to monitor the status of groundwater before and after the monsoon in the 2016 cycle.

Experts say groundwater levels should be key to granting permissions for digging of borewells. The BMC has been giving permissions without such data at hand. Reeling under a bad monsoon, the city is already facing a 20 per cent cut in water supply.

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