Fishing unions and villagers from Gorai and Manori shut their markets on Monday, October 19, and planned a march to the Mumbai Suburban Collector’s office in Bandra against the BMC’s seawater desalination plant at Manori. Organisers expected about 2,000 people at the 10 am morcha, according to the Free Press Journal. The BMC began ground work this year and wants the first water by 2029.
The project in numbers
The BMC awarded the Rs 11,166-crore contract to a joint venture of Hyderabad-based GVPR Engineers and Israel’s IDE Technologies. That figure covers construction plus 20 years of operation and maintenance by IDE. The first phase will produce 200 million litres a day (MLD), and the design allows expansion to 400 MLD. A separate Rs 2,241-crore tunnel contract with Afcons, cleared by the standing committee in July, will carry the water under Gorai Creek towards Charkop and Kandivali.
The plant cleared two regulators this spring. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority recommended it in March, and the Union environment ministry granted CRZ clearance with conditions: brine monitoring, tunnelled offshore pipelines, protection of Manori Creek and partial use of renewable power, ThePrint reported.
The case the BMC makes
Mumbai draws about 4,100 MLD from seven lakes in Thane, Palghar and Nashik districts. Demand sits near 4,665 MLD, and the civic body projects it will reach about 6,424 MLD by 2041. Residents felt that gap this year, when the BMC imposed a 10% citywide cut in May and stopped supply to construction sites and swimming pools by mid-June.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar told ThePrint the suburbs keep adding people and the city needs sources beyond rain-fed lakes. IDE’s Nayan Shah put the first phase at roughly 4-5% of current demand, so Manori would cover a slice of the shortfall. Mumbai would still depend on monsoon-filled reservoirs, plus the long-delayed Gargai dam.
What the fishers object to
The Akhil Maharashtra Machhimar Kriti Samiti, the Maharashtra Machhimar Kriti Samiti and other unions raise three objections.
- Brine. Citing the project report, the unions say phase one would draw 500 MLD of seawater and return about 300 MLD of concentrated brine to the sea near breeding grounds, as the FPJ reported last week. IDE says diffusers will disperse it.
- Leakage first. The unions say Mumbai loses about 38% of its supply to leaks and theft, roughly 1,445 MLD. By their estimate, cutting losses to 15% would save about 875 MLD, more than double Manori’s full capacity.
- Consultation. The Gorai Villagers Welfare Association says the BMC held no public hearing on the environmental study. The Gorai Fishermen Society says letters to the BMC on waste discharge went unanswered, Land Conflict Watch records.
The unions also cite an annual power bill of about Rs 147 crore for reverse osmosis, a cost that city taxpayers and water users would carry for decades.
What it means for Mumbai residents
For households in the western suburbs, Manori would arrive as extra supply in the north-west network around 2029-30, in the years when a weak monsoon would otherwise mean cuts. Seawater desalination generally costs more per litre to produce than gravity-fed lake water, and the BMC has not said how it will price that water or whether tariffs will rise. If you pay a water bill, that is the question to ask your corporator.
The leakage argument deserves an answer from the BMC too. Fixing pipes that lose more than a third of the city’s water would add supply at lower running cost. Desalination and leak repair can run side by side, but the civic body has published no leak-reduction target alongside the Manori spend.
What to watch
The unions have asked Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde to cancel the project, and a delegation met Fisheries Minister Nitesh Rane last month. Nobody has taken the dispute to court so far, per Land Conflict Watch. Watch for the BMC’s reply to the collector’s office, any move toward a public hearing, and the tunnel start, which needs the environment ministry’s go-ahead.
Sources: Free Press Journal, ThePrint, Land Conflict Watch
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.