BMC completes tunnel repair work, Mumbai’s water supply to be fully restored from April 23

The water supply in Mumbai is expected to be fully restored from early Sunday, April 23, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a statement on Tuesday. The civic body said that the repair works of the water supply tunnel that was damaged last month had been completed before the deadline.

The necessary stormwater systems will be started by the water engineering department from April 19, and the water supply will be restored in the coming three to four days, the officials said.

BMC said that the normal water supply may start from April 23 onwards at full capacity. The 5,500-metre tunnel which supplies water to the Bhandup Filtration Plant from seven different lakes was damaged last month during construction work being conducted in Thane.

Mumbaikars have been facing a 15 percent water cut since March 31 as the BMC was carrying out the tunnel repair work. As per the BMC, the repair work was completed within 18 days against the previously announced 30 days timeline.

In Mumbai, the BMC supplies about 3,950 million litres of potable water per day, which is sourced from Vaitarna and Batsa basins in Thane.

Of this, about 75 percent of the water is supplied to the purification centre at Bhandup complex via the 15-km long water tunnel which runs 125 metres below the ground level. In total, about 2,000 to 2,200 million litres of water are supplied via the tunnel per day.

The tunnel was reportedly damaged on November 8, 2022, when a developer allegedly punctured the tunnel while digging a borewell at Thane’s Wagle Industrial Estate.

The BMC finally shut the tunnel on March 31, to plug the leak and declared a 15 percent water cut in the city.

The water supply was diverted to the Bhandup complex through alternative old water channels during this period.

“A supply cut was implemented and considering the gravity of this situation, repair works were carried out in full scale and was completed on April 18, which is 12 days ahead of the month-end deadline,” an official was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.