India’s Urban Water Crisis Deepens as Massive Leakage and Theft Waste Up to 60% of Supply Across Major Cities

Mumbai, one of the country’s largest urban centers, receives approximately 3,850 million litres per day (MLD) of water supply. However, nearly 30% of this supply is estimated to be lost, meaning around 1,000 MLD of water is wasted daily through leakage and other system failures. This volume alone exceeds the combined daily water requirement of Indore and Bhopal, which stands at approximately 900 MLD.

In 2016, under the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT 2.0 programme, urban local bodies initiated Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems with the objective of reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW), including leakage and theft, to 20%. Despite an estimated expenditure of nearly 1.5 lakh crore rupees over the past decade, the situation has shown little improvement in several regions.

Leakage levels remain critically high in multiple cities. Bhopal and Indore report losses ranging between 35% and 65%. While Bhopal had claimed to reduce leakage to 16% by 2021, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report of 2019 recorded actual losses at 48%. Indore’s leakage level has been estimated at as high as 65%.

In Indore, water is transported from Jalud over a distance of 70 kilometres and lifted to an elevation of 600 metres through pumping systems. The cost of delivering 1,000 litres of water is approximately 29 rupees, with electricity expenses alone reaching 25 crore rupees per month. With 65% of water lost, the city reportedly suffers a monthly financial loss of nearly 15 crore rupees.

Mumbai’s water supply infrastructure, built at a cost of 16,092 crore rupees, is also under severe strain, with approximately 4,500 crore rupees worth of water lost due to leakage and theft. Similarly, Bengaluru spends nearly 10,000 crore rupees annually on water supply operations, while a 35% leakage rate results in an estimated loss of 3,500 crore rupees.

At a national level, only 33% of water remains stored in 166 major reservoirs, while urban water demand has increased by 48%. On average, an individual requires 135 litres of water per day, which rises to 200 litres during summer months. Nearly 600 million urban residents are currently affected by water shortages.

Experts attribute the crisis to multiple structural failures. Aging pipelines with extensive damage remain a primary concern, with audits in Bhopal alone identifying more than 15,000 leakage points. Unauthorized water connections further exacerbate losses, while many municipal bodies lack accurate digital mapping or data of their distribution networks, making it difficult to identify points of failure.

The underground placement of both water and sewage pipelines in parallel systems adds further complexity, making identification of leakages extremely challenging. In addition, the absence of water meters in many regions means consumers are charged flat rates, removing accountability for wastage and preventing penalties for excessive use.

According to Subrata Chakraborty, Director at the Centre for Science and Environment’s water programme, nearly 5,000 urban local bodies in India require urgent intervention through modern monitoring and management systems.

Proposed solutions include the deployment of artificial intelligence-based sensing systems for instant leak detection, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping with digital twin technology for real-time monitoring, and automated pressure control valves to prevent pipe bursts. Additional measures include color-coded pipeline identification, strict enforcement against illegal connections, replacement of outdated pipelines with corrosion-resistant high-density polyethylene pipes, installation of flow meters for real-time measurement, wastewater recycling for reuse in agriculture and industry, smart metering systems for consumers, and mandatory biannual audits of water distribution networks.

The continuing scale of water loss highlights a deep structural crisis in urban infrastructure, raising urgent concerns over sustainability, financial efficiency, and long-term water security across India’s rapidly growing cities.