WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS – A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION THROUGH IBWT

G A Rajkumar, M K Srinivas, L R Ranganath, M D Kudale

Abstract: Rapid urban growth threatens sustainable development when the basic pre-requisites such as sustainable and efficient domestic water supply in urban areas are not ensured. Rapid urbanization demands for a sustainable and efficient Water Resources Management for the urban areas. The availability of water is scarce with steady increase in demand of water owing to increasing population, rapid urbanization, etc. and hence there is an immense necessity to augment water availability for domestic utilization. The National Water Policy of Government of India (GOI) revised in 2012 accords over-riding priority to drinking water over other uses. National Water Policy also emphasizes the need for Inter Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) while assigning highest priority for drinking water supply needs followed by other uses. As per the census of India – 2011, the Greater Mumbai with a population of 184.14 lakhs continues to be India’s biggest city. The initial estimates of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) indicate a gross shortage of about 1053 Mm3 of water for the domestic requirements of Mumbai. Preliminary water balance studies carried out by National Water Development Agency (NWDA) revealed that surplus waters are available in the Damanganga basin which can be transferred for supplementing the domestic water requirements of Greater Mumbai. Detailed Project Report of D-P link project prepared by NWDA envisages construction of two dams viz., one across river Damanganga near Bhugad village and another at Khargihill across river Vagh (a tributary of Damanganga) along with two tunnels connecting Bhugad, Khargihill & Pinjal reservoirs. Based on studies it has been ascertained that about 210Mm3 water from Bhugad reservoir and about 369 Mm3 of water from Khargihill reservoir (total 579 Mm3 from Damanganga basin), can be transferred to Pinjal reservoir. Thus the combined surplus waters of Bhugad and Khargihill reservoirs of Damanganga basin to the extent of 579 Mm3 along with surplus waters available at Pinjal reservoir of Vaitarna basin (316 Mm3 ) totalling to about 895 Mm3 can be transferred through D-P link to Mumbai city for augmenting its domestic needs. The combined surplus waters of Damanganga and Pinjal rivers will be taken further to Mumbai city as per the planning of MCGM and Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA). In view of the acute scarcity & stressed water conditions prevalent owing to rapid increase in population and depletion of natural water resources in urban areas, the augmentation of domestic water needs in urban areas can be tackled effectively through IBWT.

Keywords: Urbanization, National Water Policy, Inter Basin Water Transfer, Dams

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2015.0423003