Half of Maharashtra sits on drought-prone land — and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis says the state is now moving decisively to change that. At a seminar and workshop marking the anniversary of the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) held at Worli, Mumbai on Thursday, 13 August 2026, Fadnavis laid out the arc of an integrated water management mission that he says is finally nearing fruition.

India's first water regulator — and what it built

Fadnavis reminded the gathering that Maharashtra holds a singular distinction: it established the MWRRA in 2005, making it India's first state-level water regulatory authority. The institution was designed not just to allocate water but to bring systemic regulation to a sector long governed by ad hoc decisions. What followed was a decade-long exercise in basin-by-basin planning — beginning with the Godavari river basin, the first integrated water resources plan of its kind in the country, and expanding to cover the Krishna, Tapi, Narmada and the westward-flowing rivers of Konkan. Together, these plans formed Maharashtra's unified integrated water blueprint — again, a national first.

Turning the Ulhas westward flow into eastern relief

The centrepiece of Fadnavis's remarks was a specific and long-discussed engineering ambition: water from the Ulhas basin currently drains westward into the sea through Konkan rivers — water that could instead be redirected eastward into the Godavari basin. If achieved through a series of inter-basin transfer projects, Fadnavis argued, it would restore hydrological balance to a basin that feeds North Maharashtra and Marathwada — two of the state's most chronically drought-struck regions. 'ते स्वप्न पूर्णत्वाकडे चालले आहे' — 'that dream is now moving towards completion,' he said, signalling that planning has given way to active execution.

Data centres, treated wastewater, and a new industrial demand

Fadnavis added a forward-looking dimension that underscored how water stress is evolving in the digital age. As the world pivots to new industries and deep tech, data centres are multiplying — and they are thirsty. The Chief Minister noted that data centres in Mumbai and its surrounding region alone could require between 800 and 1,000 MLD (million litres per day) of water. His answer was pointed: the state should not supply clean drinking water for this purpose. Instead, municipal bodies could treat sewage water and sell reclaimed wastewater to data centres — a circular-economy solution that protects potable supply while meeting industrial demand. He called on planners to formally explore this model.

Ministers Vikhe Patil and Mahajan at the table

The event was also attended by Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Minister Girish Mahajan, alongside other senior officials, signalling that water policy remains a cross-departmental priority for the Mahayuti government. The MWRRA anniversary served as both a stock-taking exercise and a statement of direction — integrated management, not crisis response, is the governing philosophy.

Maharashtra's water challenge is structural, spanning roughly 50 to 52 per cent of its territory classified as drought-prone. The integrated planning framework built over two decades is now being tested against the hardest part: delivery. The inter-basin transfer projects and the treated-water policy for data centres are the two threads to watch — and on both, the clock is running.