Study says Pune may need 30% more water by 2025

PUNE: The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations will soon have to start looking for alternative sources of water as the daily requirement is likely to rise considerably by 2025, a joint water sustainability assessment by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) and Mahindra Lifespaces found.

Estimating that the total built-up area in both PMC and PCMC limits is bound to rise by 2025, the report stated that while PMC limits will require 853.5 million litres per day (MLD) — 15% more than what is required now — the PCMC limits will require 577 MLD per day in 2025, which is at least 30% higher.
“The identification and assessment of potential alternative water sources would help combat water scarcity,” the report stated.
Even the wastewater generation in PMC and PCMC limits will outweigh the current installed capacities, the authors of the report said, adding, “The cities face a significant risk of pollution to their natural waterways.”
According to the study, against the current installed treatment capacity of 567 MLD in PMC and 317 MLD in PCMC limits, projected wastewater generation in 2025 is expected to be at 682 MLD and 462 MLD respectively.
The report recommended that the civic bodies will have no choice but to have “zero discharge of untreated wastewater from the city into natural water bodies”. Towards this end, the report recommended the provision of citywide networks to ensure complete collection of sewage.
“The treated water from sewage treatment plants (STPs) can serve as an effective alternative to freshwater extraction from natural water bodies and be reused for non-domestic purposes. The use of rainwater harvesting systems for storage and reuse should be promoted. This could be done by promoting the installation of localized rainwater storage systems in new buildings for domestic purposes. This will also lead to a reduction in water bills,” the report said.
Sanjay Seth, senior director, TERI, said this was the first-of-its-kind macro-level analysis of water management at a city-level, along with the micro-level analysis of water use in residential housing townships.
“As an outcome of the study, guidelines for water use at the demand-level, for residential townships, would be further developed for the benefit of consumers,” he added.
The study was confined only to PMC and PCMC limits of the Pune district due to a relative lack of data in the rural areas.