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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to appoint the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) to conduct earthquake-related studies at a site proposed for the construction of Gagai dam — proposed to meet Mumbai’s future water requirements.
The civic body had planned to construct the dam on Vaitarna river at Wada in Palghar district around seven years ago. The proposal to appoint the Pune-based research station will be tabled before a standing committee meeting Tuesday.
“As per the rules of Central Water Commission, since the proposed site of dam falls under earthquake seismic zone 3 — indicating moderate risk of earthquake — it is compulsory to conduct a study on all possibility of earthquake and chalk out a plan to deal with it. Since CWPRS is a government undertaking and is the only institution which can conduct such studies, we did not invite tenders,” a senior official from the BMC said.
“(Once functional) the Gagai dam project will supply 440 million litres water to the city daily,” the official said.
The civic body will spend Rs 13.77 lakh on the study. In 2019-20 Budget, the civic body apportioned Rs 122 crore for the project.
Meanwhile, the BMC has taken a peer review prepared by WAPCOS LTD on the dam’s hydrology from Central Design Organisation, Nashik.
According to the study, at least 191 families in six villages would be affected by the Gagai project.
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