Panvel’s ₹140-Crore Water Bet: Overflow Project Targets Relief, but Climate and Autonomy Questions Loom
Published 16 Sep 2025, 1:00 PM IST
Key Points
- What: The Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) has cleared and sent a ₹140-crore proposal to the State Directorate of Urban Development to capture, treat, and distribute surplus monsoon water from the Dehrang Dam. The idea is simple but significant, stopping wasting the dam’s overflow during rains and instead use it to ease water shortages in Panvel and surrounding nodes.
- How: As per the proposal, the plan includes building a jackwell to collect overflow, laying a 10-kilometer pipeline, and setting up a new water treatment plant with an estimated capacity of 40–50 million liters per day (MLD). PMC officials believe this could save huge volumes of water that usually spill away during monsoon. However, these are still projections on paper, no independent verification has been done yet.
- Where: If the project goes through, the treated water will first serve Panvel city and later reach CIDCO-developed nodes like Kalamboli, Kamothe, and New Panvel. These areas currently depend on CIDCO for supply, and while PMC has announced its plan to step in, CIDCO hasn’t yet confirmed its part in the distribution.
- Timeline: PMC hopes to float tenders by the end of 2025 and complete the work by mid-2028. These are the timelines on the proposal, but final clearance and tendering delays could easily stretch the schedule.
What it means for Navi Mumbai
For residents tired of irregular supply and high tanker bills, this proposal brings hope. But the story is not just about pipelines and treatment plants, it’s also about power and control.
By trying to source and distribute water in areas historically handled by CIDCO, PMC is stepping into a role usually reserved for the state’s planning body. If the plan succeeds, it could mark the beginning of a shift where local, elected governance starts taking over services, from roads to gardens, that were once in CIDCO’s hands.
PMC Commissioner Mangesh Chitale has called it a “visionary step toward making Panvel a water-sufficient city.” It’s an attempt to fix the paradox of a region that faces water cuts even as millions of liters from Dehrang spill away each monsoon. For households in Panvel, Kalamboli, Kamothe, and New Panvel, it could mean fewer tanker calls and a more reliable tap supply.
But the proposal also carries risk. The entire project is tied to one source: the Dehrang Dam’s overflow. With climate change already making monsoons unpredictable, depending on consistent rainfall could be a gamble. Experts note that in weak monsoon years, the dam levels drop sharply in summer, raising doubts about whether this project can truly secure water year-round.
Source
Indian Express – “PMC sends ₹140 crore proposal to state government to use Dehrang dam overflow for water supply”
Hindustan Times – “Panvel: PMC sends ₹140 crore proposal for Dehrang dam overflow project”
Mid-Day – “Panvel water project: PMC eyes Dehrang dam overflow to tackle supply woes”
Free Press Journal – “Panvel: PMC proposes ₹140 crore project to tap Dehrang dam overflow water”
Times of India – “Panvel to tap Dehrang dam overflow to ease water crisis”
