In 5 years, BMC brings down water wastage by a mere 5 pc
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has managed to bring down the quantity of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) that is lost either in leakages or through illegal connections, by merely five percent in last five years time span. Earlier, Mumbai had 27 percent NRW rate as per the official record of the civic body Hydraulic Department that is about 27 percent of the total water (currently 3300 million litres) consumed by the residents of the city, came under the bracket of non-revenue water. A senior civic official said, “We have completed the audit of water pipelines across Mumbai and also as per the expert committee now the rate of NRW of Mumbai has been pulled down to 22 percentage,” said the officials.
According to the BMC, unauthorised water connections, pipeline leakages, unequal water distribution and non-metered water connections are the major contributing factors in the NRW percentage. In Mumbai. "Civic body is using helium gas to detect leakages in water pipelines rather using the old method of acoustic system to detect leaks. In this method, the pipes are pressurised with helium and the leaks are then identified by measuring its concentrations. In addition, its installing valves to regulate water pressure so as to ensure equal distribution of water across the city. Also, to reduce water theft we have introduced online water connection system where one can easily get water connection within 15 days," said the official.
While the BMC has also asked henceforth new construction buildings should install metered water connection compulsory. The officer added, “Currently in South Mumbai there are more than one lakh non metered water connection. Due to non-metered water connection, BMC is unable to count the water consumption, therefore non-metered water connection has also been involved in Non-Revenue water percentage.”