Water tunnel will be operational soon: BMC

With the commencement of the last phase of the 15-kilometre-long tunnel between Gundavali and Bhandup complex, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that this tunnel would become operational by October this year. This tunnel is expected to supply water from the Vaitarna and Tansa lakes to the Bhandup water complex for treatment and distribution in the city. Apart from this, it is also going to provide an alternative network for the old depleted pipelines between these areas.

By the completion of this project, the BMC has completed a milestone in augmenting the water supply to the city. The tunnel is expected to carry about 4,000 MLD of water per day. When the Middle Vaitarna dam project was taken up, it consisted of constructing two underground water tunnels. One was to run from Gundavali to Kapurbavdi, and the other from Kapurbavdi to Bhandup. The water sent to the Bhandup Complex is to be treated, pumped and stored for distribution to the rest of the city via existing supply systems.

Work on the first phase between Gundavali to Kapurbavdi began in November 2009. It was completed by 2014. Similarly, work on the second phase of the tunnel up to Bhandup is underway, and will be completed by October this year, following which the tunnel will become operational. Construction of both these tunnels has cost the BMC Rs 2,887 crore.

After the Gargai and Pinjal dams are constructed, the tunnel is expected to be used for water distribution ahead of Gundavali from these two dams as well. The construction of the tunnel took BMC close to seven years, as the tunnel is over six metres in diameter, and has been placed 112 metres below the ground, which had been posing the challenge.