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From Approved to Actual: Parsi Wadi’s Long Road to Water Blog by SPARC   Last year, we presented a blog titled “When communities come together, they win”, on the water issue in Parsi Wadi, an informal settlement in Mumbai where COMPLUS has created health committees. The blog described the burden of poor water pressure and inadequacy of water and thewoes that it brought to the community, particularly the women. This was the first issue that the committee wanted to resolve. After a long battle, the issue is now fully resolved! Back to some history, the work on the new waterpipeline in Parsi Wadi began on 27 March 2025. For residents, this felt like the end of a long fight. They had spent years asking the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to replace the old pipes. The old pipes gave barely enough water fora day’s needs. The letter of approval had come. The digging had started. But this was not the end of the story. It was the end of one chapter. Getting a pipeline approved is one task. Getting it built, connected to every home, and switched on is another. For Parsi Wadi, this second task took more than a year. Each step caused a lot of skepticism around the achievement , “would we finally have water running with good force and in adequate quantities inside our homes?” Following up on the paperwork Approval did not mean the work would move on its own. Residents had to stay engaged with the Municipal Corporation at every step. The committee met the Ward Disaster Management Assistant Commissioner, Sachin Tarkar, and the Deputy Commissioner. They went through tender documents and technical drawings together. This helped them understand what was still pending. For close to three years in total, residents kept returning to the ward office. They met engineers in the Connection Department again and again. Each time, they were told the file was still in process. The pace picked up only after the local corporator got involved. The committee also kept raising the issue in meeting after meeting. Around ten residents, along with committee members, began meeting connection department engineers directly. Slowly, work on the mainline pipe through the settlement started. Disputes within the community The construction work brought its own problems. Some residents disagreed on where the new lines should run. This disagreement stalled the work for nearly three months. Other residents did not want digging outside their homes. This fear was familiar from Part 1, when nearby localities had worried about broken sewer lines and narrow roads. At one point, tensions rose so much that police protection was needed to continue the mainline work. Through all this, committee members stayed involved. They mediated disputes between neighbours. They kept pressure on contractors. They made sure the work did not quietly stall, the way it had for years before. Pipeline complete, water still not flowing By June 2026, the physical pipeline work was complete. But completed construction did not mean water in the taps. At a meeting on 6 June, officials told residents that supply would start once the remaining paperwork was cleared. The committee kept following up. On 10 June, an engineer from the Connection Department confirmed the pipeline work was done. But the water connection had still not been switched on. Residents went back to the Municipal Corporation again to press for this final step. On 12 June 2026, the Municipal staff came to Parsi Wadi to activate individual household connections. This process brought out problems that had built up over years. Some homes had no water meters at all. Others had unauthorized, tapped connections. These had to be regularised before a proper connection could be given. In one case, an existing connection was disconnected and a penalty was imposed. The matter was resolved later through discussion with the residents. Water has reached Parsi Wadi. The inauguration is still to come. By 29 June 2026, the remaining connection work was complete. Water supply to Parsi Wadi began. It has been more than four years since residents first raised the issue of low water pressure. It has been more than a year since the pipeline work they negotiated for, finally began. Today, water has reached the households of Parsi Wadi. The formal inauguration of the new water connection has not happened yet. It is expected to take place soon, marking official recognition of a negotiation that has lasted years. The Parsi Wadi committee’s efforts paid off, after years or negotiation and painstaking follow up. Women walked to the ward office every fifteen days. Committee members mediated between neighbours who did not always agree. The community did not let an approved project quietly turn into a shelved one. The tap runs now. This is the result of everyone who kept showing up until it did.