Mumbai loses 34% water to leakage, theft; BMC eyes 400 million litres per day recovery

Mumbai: As much as 34% of the approximately 4,100 million litres per day (MLD) of water supplied to Mumbai is currently lost as non-revenue water (NRW) through leakage, theft and other distribution losses, according to BMC. NRW has been at 34% since 2024—an improvement from 38% between 2021 and 2023.

Additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar informed the civic standing committee on Thursday that the civic body needs to bring this figure down further by at least 10%, a target that may take time but could potentially make around 400 MLD of additional water available to the city.

Bangar said recovering 400 MLD would be significant as it is roughly equivalent to the water yield expected from the proposed Gargai dam, which is planned to augment Mumbai’s water supply by 440 MLD in the coming years.