Kurla slum colony, once water-sufficient, struggles with huge shortage

Water was never such a problem for Jai Ambika Nagar earlier, but in 2019, the slum colony of 700 homes started getting water only for an hour, then 45 minutes, and now it’s 30 minutes or less

Mumbai, India. Oct 02, 2025 - Residents of Jai Ambe Nagar in Kurla have faced an acute water shortage for the past two years. Mumbai, India. Oct 01, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)

MUMBAI: As the city prepared for Dussehra, the women of Jai Ambika Nagar in Kurla were occupied elsewhere. Depending upon where each home falls in the 700-tenement-strong slum settlement in Kurla West, they stood on guard through the morning for water to gush in from their community taps. Each tap supplies water to anywhere between eight to ten homes, and not a second could be wasted in between.

Every day, the locality receives water for 30 minutes or under, making it approximately three to five minutes per house. “All we are able to fill is two to three 15-litre jugs that have to last our large families the whole day,” said Kavita Namganurkar.

The women say the water shortage affects all areas of their life: they’re not free to leave for work till after the water comes from 7 am to 1 pm, depending upon the zone. When they’re back in the evenings, they often have to get more water from their neighbours at a lower elevation and trudge uphill.

“There are fights among neighbours at the water taps regarding the quantity taken by each one—fights which have even gone to the police,” said Parveen Shaikh, 55.

Water was never such a problem for Jai Ambika Nagar earlier, explains Ashok Kamble, National General Secretary of the Bhim Army. “We used to get water for one and a half hours each, and it was plenty,” he said. “Each of us would get filling time for ten hours and more. But in 2019, the duration started dropping, first an hour, then 45 minutes. And now it’s 30 minutes and less.”

The slum residents approached the BMC time and again and even sat in on a protest at the L ward office in early September. This past week too, they went to the ward office to appeal to officials. But little changed. “Having exhausted all other options, we will now file a PIL in the Bombay high court,” said Kamble.

When questioned, the BMC maintained that the locality was getting adequate water. “As the locality is on a slope, it has a tank which we supply water to,” said an officer from the L ward’s water works department. “After that, their private pipes and pumps take it forward. We supply the tank with at least 1,30,000 litres of water and more daily, sometimes up to 2,30,000 litres.”

The officer said that there were possibly leaks in the settlement’s water network or the population in the area had skyrocketed. “If that’s the case, they need to inform us formally,” he said. “They also have outstanding water dues of over ₹15 lakh.”

The slum settlement, however, maintains that the problem stems from the reduced pressure of the BMC water supply. Sudarshan Prasad, who has manned the water tank in the locality since the late 1990s, said, “Earlier, the water pressure was so good, I would start the water for each zone, as the water from the main kept flowing in. But now, the pressure is less so I have to wait till the tank fills up, which delays everything. There are five zones, each of which gets around 40,000 litres of water for 200 homes. But it is inadequate.”