BMC to cut water connections to swimming pools, construction sites

Mumbai's monsoon delays continue as dry conditions persist, prompting the BMC to impose severe water supply cuts amid dwindling reservoir levels.

MUMBAI: Even as the sweltering city impatiently awaits the southwest monsoon, meteorologists say it will not be here for a week at least, as a combination of dry air intrusion, unfavourable wind patterns and the absence of supporting weather systems has stalled its advance over Mumbai. “Emerging El Niño conditions in the Pacific are further weakening monsoon winds and suppressing rainfall activity across the subcontinent,” said Akshay Deoras, senior research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, UK.

BMC to cut water connections to swimming pools, construction sites

As the wait stretches on, several entities dependent on BMC services are set to bear the brunt. After the civic body’s 10% water cut imposed since May 15, it has stepped up water conservation measures by ordering a 20% reduction in water supply to industrial and commercial establishments and sports clubs. The civic body has also decided to disconnect all water connections to construction sites and swimming pools, and will not sanction fresh connections for the former until further notice.

17 june water cut

Furthermore, water supply to aerated and packaged drinking water bottling plants will be restricted to meet only the drinking water needs of workers at their facilities. Organisations operating public urinals and community toilets have been asked to maximise the use of tanker or borewell water to reduce dependence on treated drinking water. BMC-supplied potable water is not to be used for washing vehicles, watering gardens or cleaning roads and premises; alternative water sources must be used instead, the civic body said.

How far will services be affected by these measures? In the case of swimming pools, an official from the hydraulic engineering department said that only a small number of pools received BMC water supply, as the corporation’s network is primarily meant for potable water distribution. Rajesh Sawant, manager of the BMC-owned Ozone Swimming Pool in Goregaon, said they largely relied on rainwater harvesting for pool operations. “Only the bathrooms and toilets use BMC water,” he said. “The swimming pool itself is not affected, but facilities that depend on potable municipal water could face difficulties.”

Mumbai has over 910 redevelopment projects underway and more than 3,000 construction sites. Jitendra Mehta, senior vice-president, CREDAI-MCHI, an apex body of developers, said that the city had faced such situations before, and the real estate sector had “always worked responsibly during periods of water stress”.

“At project sites, construction activities largely depend on groundwater and other non-potable sources, while drinking water is used only for labour welfare and essential requirements,” he said. “Therefore, we do not see any major impact on ongoing projects or construction timelines at present.”

The current situation is comparable to the water crises witnessed in 2014, 2023 and 2024 when a delayed monsoon led to critically low reservoir levels and forced the BMC to impose water cuts. In 2024, the civic body first imposed a 5% water cut from May 30, which was increased to 10% from June 5 till the end of July. In 2023, lake levels fell below 10% of capacity, prompting a 10% water cut from July 1 till August. A similar crisis unfolded in 2014, when one of Mumbai’s driest Junes on record forced the BMC to impose a 20% water cut from July 2, which was later reduced to 10% on July 30 before being completely withdrawn on August 12 as reservoir levels recovered.

Meanwhile, the BMC has secured access to the reserved stock of 1,47,400 million litres for Bhatsa and 90,000 million litres from the Upper Vaitarna reservoir from the state government’s irrigation department. “We will start using it from next week onwards,” said a senior civic official.