Drive through Wagholi, Kharadi, Undri, Pisoli, Mohammadwadi-NIBM, Katraj-Ambegaon, or the expanding pockets of Hinjewadi, and you notice large tankers rumbling through narrow residential roads and high-rise societies, often around the clock, delivering what the taps cannot: water.These areas, which were farmland not long ago, have transformed into densely populated residential zones over the last couple of years. But the basic infrastructure, such as water pipelines and last-mile supply, has not kept pace.The result: hundreds of housing societies remain unconnected to the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) water grid, or receive supply that falls far short of their needs. Into that gap has stepped the private water tanker network.Agriculture to tanker fleetSushant Lonkar, owner of R. T. Tankers in Kausar Baug, and who also spearheaded the tanker strike in April, traces the origins of this business.“Earlier, the outskirts of Pune, like Wagholi, Kharadi, Undri, Pisoli, Mohammadwadi, Ambegaon, parts of Hinjewadi, didn’t have much population. Locals here owned farmland and were engaged in agriculture,” he told The Sunday Express.As real estate demand surged and residential populations swelled, the same farmers who once drew water from their borewells and wells for crops began supplying it to the societies coming up on their former fields. “Compared to agriculture, the locals found the tanker business lucrative as it offered quick money,” Lonkar said. They started purchasing tankers, and a new economy was born.Also Read | Tanker Town Pune | ‘Water tanker owners feel general public should be grateful to them,’ say residentsCivic body’s limited reachA large part of why private tankers have thrived is that the PMC owns only 57 water tankers in total.Story continues below this adOf these, 39 are operated by the Water Supply Department for drinking water supply across the city, while the remaining 17 are managed by the Garden Department for watering trees and green spaces. Each tanker carries between 9,000 and 10,000 litres.For a city the size of Pune, with sprawling peripheral zones growing faster than infrastructure can follow, this fleet is nowhere near sufficient.According to Lonkar, “The PMC does additionally issue yearly tenders, worth Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore, for private tankers to supply water to villages on the city’s outskirts.” But for the vast majority of underserved localities, the market has been left to the private sector.“The PMC is not able to build the required infrastructure for last-mile service to provide one of the most essential commodities, such as water supply,” Lonkar said. “So residents started relying on water tankers, and the demand picked up.”Story continues below this adGrowing registrationsThe numbers tell the story. Official data from the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Regional Transport Office (RTO) shows a steady and significant rise in water tanker registrations.PMC: Three kinds of tankers, one unsolved problemAs of May 2026, 1,596 water tankers are registered with the Pune RTO according to data shared by Deputy Regional Transport Officer Swapnil Bhosale. Out of these, the Pune Municipal Corporation website says that the motor vehicle department owns 57 water tankers. The majority of these are used by PMC to provide water to housing societies free of cost, while a few are used by the garden department for maintenance of various gardens across the city.The water supply department supplies water through three types of tankers. PMC tankers are owned by the corporation and transport water free of cost to residents. Tendered tankers are privately owned but paid by PMC to supply water free of cost. Private tankers buy water from the PMC and sell it commercially.The numbers show a sharp upward trend. In FY 2023-24, 4,00,348 tankers were supplied to the city through the department. 27,184 of these were PMC tankers, 3,45,846 were tendered tankers, and 27,318 were private tankers.Story continues below this adIn FY 2024-25, this number jumped to 4,89,202 total tankers. 35,080 of these were PMC tankers, 3,99,046 were tendered tankers, and 55,076 were private tankers. While the number of PMC and tendered tankers grew in this year, private tankers more than doubled.In FY 2025-26, the total number further increased to 5,17,422 tankers. 32,973 of these were PMC tankers, 4,34,804 were tendered tankers, and 49,645 were private tankers.Over three years, total tanker supply has grown by 29.24 per cent. Private tankers have seen the sharpest rise — up 81.73 percent — while tendered tankers grew 25.72 percent and PMC tankers by 21.30 percent.Pimpri-Chinchwad: A Similar SurgeThe trend is mirrored in Pimpri-Chinchwad. In 2021-22, only 16 new water tankers were registered there. That jumped to 49 in 2022-23 — a rise of over 200 percent in a single year — and climbed further to 83 in 2023-24, a near 70 percent increase.Story continues below this adRegistrations stood at 66 in 2024-25 and 60 in 2025-26. In just the first two months of FY 2026-27, seven new tankers have already been registered. Pimpri-Chinchwad alone now has 1,071 operational water tankers.No water source disclosureOne of the most consequential features of this sector is the lack of regulatory oversight.As tanker operators themselves acknowledge, except for RTO registration of water tankers, there is no requirement to disclose the source or quality standard of water being supplied. There is no authority, civic or otherwise, that currently exercises effective control over the private water tanker industry.Speaking to The Indian Express, Santosh Tandale, Superintending Engineer in the PMC’s Water Supply department, said, “We don’t have any record of the total count of private tanker operators, their source of water, quality standards, owner or driver information. PMC-owned tankers supply tap water from Chaturshringi point, and it is the same source for around 45 private tankers attached with the PMC on a contract (tender) basis to serve remote villages in Pune.”Story continues below this adA business at a crossroadsDespite its scale, the private tanker business is beginning to show cracks. “The borewells and open wells that once powered it are drying up, particularly acute during summer months in areas like Wagholi, Undri, and other areas.Operators who were self-sufficient until recently are now being forced to source water from distant locations such as Katraj, increasing transportation costs and squeezing margins,” Lonkar said.“At the same time, finding and retaining drivers has become harder, and frequent accidents along with traffic challans for violations are adding to operational burdens. Because of this, some locals are exiting the tanker business,” Lonkar added.As original operators step back, a new class of buyers is emerging – businessmen with access to more reliable, year-round water sources who can absorb the higher costs. The industry, Lonkar suggests, is consolidating.