Satellite image of Mumbai, showing urban water reservoirs

When I arrived in Mumbai, the water shortage as a result of poor monsoon rains in 2009 struck me. The availability of drinking water per capita now fell below the mark 100l per person and day, and this situation will most probably worsen in the near future, first because the city [...]

Anuradha Mathur and Rahul Srivastava with UPenn students at Sewri, on the Eastern Waterfront.

Today we joined a group of landscape architecture students from the University of Pennsylvania who are exploring some of Mumbai’s most ambiguous spaces. After co-authoring SOAK, a ground-breaking study of Mumbai’s relationship to water with her partner Dilip Dacunha, Anuradha Mathur brings [...]

1. How does water shortage impact the lives of people of diffrent social and income groups in Mumbai?
2.How do Mumbaikars deal wth this issue in their daily lives? What is their attitude towards it?
3. What is the city’s strategy at present?
4. Could the problem be assessed at a micro scale?
5. What are simple and cheap [...]

Mumbai’s water supply comes from 6 reservoir lakes that store rainwater collected  during rainy season: Vihar lake, Tulsi lake, Tansa lake, Upper Vaitarna, Lower Vaitarna, and Bhatsa. The city draws from the Mithi and Thane watersheds.  No additional capacity has recently been added despite the current rapid growth in population of Greater Mumbai. 
These lakes are [...]