Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) decided to promote rainwater harvesting across the city and expanded, as an immediate measure, the supply of recycled water for construction, gardening and other non-potable uses in Navi Mumbai to tide over water scarcity as the dam level went down drastically due to the delayed monsoon.The civic body has enforced a 10% water cut, and further reduction in supply is on the cards if the situation continued to remain the same.NMMC Commissioner Kailas Shinde made the announcement during a meeting with a delegation from Climate Action Now (CAN). “We will supply recycled water from the sewage treatment plants (STP) even to housing societies for gardening and vehicle washing purposes,” Shinde said, while clarifying that the civic body had not halted water supplies for construction activities.“It is a crime to wash vehicles with precious drinking water,” he said, urging citizens and housing societies to switch to recycled water wherever feasible. Shinde said the corporation was committed to long-term water conservation measures and instructed the garden department to strengthen water-saving initiatives.The delegation urged NMMC to launch a citywide rainwater harvesting programme to capture and reuse rainwater that currently drained into the sea. They recommended that the civic body install rainwater harvesting systems at the NMMC headquarters, ward offices, fire stations, bus depots and other civic facilities.CAN also proposed mandatory groundwater recharge measures, including recharge wells and aquifer replenishment systems, across residential, commercial and institutional development.Among other recommendations, the delegation called for desilting Morbe dam and associated reservoirs to improve storage capacity, greater use of treated wastewater, protection and restoration of wetlands and natural drainage channels, and integration of water-sensitive urban design principles such as permeable surfaces, bioswales and urban forests intoredevelopment and infrastructure projects.
