₹220-cr proposal flags Bhatsa dam leakages, seeks urgent repairs

Located in Shahapur tehsil in Thane district, the dam has developed several cracks, with water leakage reaching 1,633 litres per second at times

Mumbai: The irrigation department has submitted a ₹220-crore proposal for repairing leakages at the Bhatsa dam, which supplies a major share of the water drawn daily for Mumbai.

The Bhatsa dam supplies a major share of the water drawn daily for Mumbai. (Yogesh Naik/HT Photo)

Located in Shahapur tehsil in Thane district, the dam has developed several cracks, with water leakage reaching 1,633 litres per second at times. Grouting work needs to be undertaken at the dam urgently to plug the leaks, the proposal said.

“At present, the water which leaks out from the dam collects in the vertical porous drain and flows into the stream that travels to the Pise filtration plant (owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation). There is no wastage of water as such, but the leaks pose grave danger to the dam structure,” executive engineer at Bhatsa, Rahul Bhalerao, told Hindustan Times.

Among the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai, the BMC owns five – Vihar, Tulsi, Tansa, Modaksagar and Middle Vaitarna, while the Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa dams are owned by the state irrigation department.

The Bhatsa dam was approved in 1967 and the first phase was completed in 1982 while the entire project was completed in 2005. The dam has a height of 142.07 metres and the water level as of Monday morning was 139.40 metres or 89.89%.

The dam was last repaired in 2020-21, after leaks were reported in 2018, Bhalerao said. The latest proposal to repair the dam is being considered by the state level technical advisory committee, and grouting work will be initiated once the proposal is approved, Bhalerao added.

Since Bhatsa is an old masonry dam, leakages are common as opposed to more recent dams made of concrete where leakages are rare, officials said.