MUMBAI: Though most of the lakes that supply water to the city are full, municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar on Wednesday admitted that there was no solution to water cuts in the immediate future.

"There is no way to increase the water supply beyond the current supply, unless all major water supply projects are implemented. These major projects will only be completed by 2016," Kumar said at the general body meeting.

The city receives 3,400 million litres of water daily (mld), while it needs 4,200 mld of water to fulfill the water requirement of the city. To bridge the gap between the demand and the supply, the BMC is now pinning its hopes on new projects such as the Middle Vaitarna and Gargai.

Corporators said the worst affected areas were Kurla, Mankhurd, Mohammed Ali Road and Chembur. "Ramzan is on and there is no water for people to even break their fast in my ward. Now, other festivals will follow and the water problems will just get worse," said Captain Mallik, corporator from Kurla.

The original deadlines set by the Chitale Committee were 2020 for the Gargai and 2025 for Pinjal projects, but now they are 2017 and 2015 respectively. While the Gargai project is being executed by the BMC, the Pinjal dam will be built by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority due to a cash crunch in the BMC. Work on the Middle Vaitarna dam, which promises to increase water supply by 455 mld, is likely to be completed by 2012.