Mumbai water tanker association suspends supply, to go on indefinite strike

Mumbai: Amid intense heat and humidity, water supply in the financial capital of the country would be affected with the Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA) going on an indefinite strike from Thursday.

The MWTA is opposing the directive of Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that mandates open well and borewell owners to obtain a license or No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA). 

These open wells and borewells are key sources of water for the tankers operating in the Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban districts.

During summers, the demand for water, many housing societies, high-rise buildings, chawls, commercial offices and industries shoot up in Mumbai.

“Over the past few days, we had written to the administration requesting them to hear us out, but till now, nobody has gotten in touch with us,” MWTA spokesperson Ankur Sharma said.

There are around 1,800 to 2,000  registered tankers having a capacity of 500-20,000 litres. 

They supply around 350 MLD water to different parts of the city every day.

Currently, there are an estimated 800 to 1,000 groundwater sources across the city that are being tapped by water tankers.

The BMC authorities have made 200 sq m land, proof of lease or ownership of wells, installation of digital water flow meter, adherence of BIS standard, accurate measurement of daily intake and some other things mandatory, besides taking a NOC from CGWA.

The water tanker operators primarily supply non-potable water sourced from local wells and borewells, which is essential for construction sites, major infrastructure projects such as road concretisation, metro rail, and bullet trains, as well as hotels and malls. Hotels too are dependent on tanker water supply.

BMC officials said CGWA’s mandate for compulsory licensing was introduced in 2020 to curb excessive groundwater extraction.

“For the past 3 years, this issue has persisted and the Government  of Maharashtra hasn’t taken this up with the Government of India. Today, Mumbaikars will suffer because of certain impractical guidelines made by those sitting in Government  of India offices in Delhi,” Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray said. 

Thackeray asked BMC’s Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Bhushan Gagrani to apprise Mumbaikars on the civic body’s plan on the water woes.

"Also, had the (previous) Eknath Shinde-headed (MahaYuti) regime not cancelled the desalination plant planned by us (the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government), Mumbai’s water woes would have been solved by 2026 at the most,” he said.