The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s dream of using sewerage water for non-potable purposes may soon come true. After a delay of nearly three years in constructing a wastewater treatment facility in Colaba, the civic body has finally started the ground work.

Under the Mumbai Sewerage Disposal Project (MSDP)-2, the civic body is going to set up a water treatment facility worth Rs. 134 crore. Currently, the sewage is treated at a secondary level, after which it is discharged into the sea. The project is supposed to be completed in 2.5 years.

Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said, "Mumbai gets 3,700 million litres of water daily. Out of this, 70 per cent is turned into sewerage. By creating a tertiary level waste water treatment facility, we want to make sewerage water useful." He said, "In the next few years, we are going to set up more waste water treatment facilities in another six sewerage zones. Of the 3,700 million litres of water supplied daily, our target is to reuse about 2,900 million litres."