Nagpur: With nearly 259 million litres of treated water disappearing from its supply network every day, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has opted to plug leakages and curb illegal connections rather than impose a water cut on citizens. The move comes despite the state govt’s directive to reduce water supply by 10% from Friday.On the eve of govt deadline, NMC ruled out an immediate cut in water supply, maintaining that it would continue pumping 740 million litres per day (MLD) from Totladoh reservoir and Kanhan river. The decision, however, leaves the civic body with the challenge of delivering its conservation target while reservoir levels remain a concern.Mayor Neeta Thakre told TOI that there would be no water cut for now. “We will analyse the status of the reservoirs in the coming days and take a decision on whether to reduce supply or continue with the current arrangement,” she said.The immediate strategy is to plug water losses. NMC superintending engineer Shweta Banerjee claimed the civic body had saved 300 million litres (ML) over the past six days through conservation measures, including plugging leakages and converting illegal connections into legal ones.However, the scale of the losses highlights the tough task ahead. Of the 740 MLD supplied to the city, around 259 MLD — nearly 35% — is classified as non-revenue water (NRW). This includes water lost through leakages and unauthorised connections, as well as other distribution losses.A 10% reduction in the city’s current supply would translate into 74 MLD a day. NMC is banking on conservation and tighter distribution management to meet the objective without opting for water cuts.The approach also shifts the immediate burden of compliance from consumers to the civic administration. The reported 300 ML saving over six days works out to an average of 50 MLD per day.Banerjee said NMC would continue repairing leakages and acting against illegal connections. The civic body has also appealed to residents not to waste treated drinking water on activities such as washing cars and cleaning roads.For now, households have been spared an immediate cut. But with more than a third of the city’s daily supply classified as NRW, the critical question is whether NMC can turn its conservation drive into measurable, sustained savings before declining reservoir stocks force a rethink.
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