BMC to check if industries and Metros can use recycled water

In a bid to promote the usage of recycled water in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to formulate a policy for bulk users of water.

In a bid to promote the usage of recycled water in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to formulate a policy for bulk users of water.

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The civic body plans to appoint a consultant to conduct a survey of potential bulk users and aims to target Metro corridors, infrastructure projects and industries, which can use recycled water for non-potable purposes to meet the city’s growing demand for water.

BMC believes that several public agencies, such as the proposed Metro corridors, can use recycled water for washing coaches, tracks, trains etc in the coming months.

Atul Rao, chief engineer, Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP), said, “We will target bulk users, and upcoming and existing Metro lines will be in focus. For instance, we can use recycled water for washing Metro coaches. Likewise, other agencies as well as industries, too, can be targeted for putting recycled water into use for various purposes.”

BMC currently supplies around 3,800 million litres of water every day. According to estimates, the city’s water demand will increase to 5,940 million litres each day by 2041. Looking at the growing demands of the city, the civic body has made a budgetary allocation of ₹402 crore towards the recycling of water for non-potable uses for financial year 2020-2021.

To enable recycling of water, the BMC is also constructing sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the city. According to the civic body, 20% of every 100 litres of water will be made available for non-potable and industrial purposes through STPs.

After bulk users, BMC plans to target housing societies for water recycling projects. Currently, a majority of residential societies do not have the infrastructure for water recycling. However, it is mandatory for all upcoming societies to have a recycling procedure in place, without which they will not receive the BMC’s nod.