Middle Vaitarna overflows, lake levels at 89%

Continuous rain in the catchment area over the past few days led to the rapid rise in the water level

Mumbai: The Middle Vaitarna dam started overflowing at 2:45am on Sunday, becoming the fifth among seven lakes supplying water to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region to have been filled to capacity. Continuous rain in the catchment area over the past few days led to the rapid rise in the water level.  

Middle Vaitarna overflows, lake levels at 89%

The two gates of the dam were opened after it started overflowing and water was released at the rate of 706.30 cubicsecs, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) water engineering department. The Tulsi, Vihar, Modak Sagar and Tansa lakes had started overflowing last month, after which the BMC withdrew the 10% water cut.

Work on the Middle Vaitrana dam, christened ‘Hinduhrudaysamrat Shiv Pramukh Balasaheb Thackeray Madhya Vaitrana Reservoir’, was completed by the BMC in record time in 2014. The dam is 102.4 metres high and 565 metres long and its maximum water storage capacity is 193,530 million litres.

The total storage capacity of the seven lakes supplying water to Mumbai is 14,47,363 million litres. The combined water level of the seven lakes at 6am on Sunday was 12,89,615 million litres or 89.1% of the total capacity, compared to 11,47,086 million litres on the same day last year.