Mumbai lake levels fall to 5%, no water cut; rains expected to pick up on Wednesday
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has no plans to increase the current 10% water cut all over the city. Even though the stocks in the lakes are low, the civic body is expecting rainfall in the coming days, while the state government has also approved using reserve stock if needed
Mumbai: With the city reeling under a dry spell in the past week after an early onset of the southwest monsoon, the water level across the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai has dipped to a precarious 5.35%. For context, the water levels at the same time last year and in 2022 were 8.23% and 11.11%, respectively. Only 77.36 billion litres of water are left in the lakes, with Mumbai requiring around 4 billion litres per day.
However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has no plans to increase the current 10% water cut all over the city. “Even though the stocks are low, we are expecting rainfall,” said an official from the civic body’s hydraulic department. “Apart from that, we have reserve stock that has been approved by the state government if we need to use it.”
Despite reports of above-normal rainfall expected for June, it hasn’t been a great start. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD’s) Colaba station has recorded 210.6 mm of rainfall since June 1, 58mm below normal, while its Santacruz station has clocked 128.3mm, a departure of 125.4mm. A majority of this was recorded in the first 24 hours of the monsoon’s onset on June 9.
However, the IMD expects the monsoon to pick up in the next few days. There is a high likelihood of heavy to very heavy rainfall on Wednesday at isolated places in Mumbai and its neighbouring cities of Thane and Palghar, with the IMD issuing a yellow alert.
“We’re expecting the monsoon to pick up surge, as there are westerly winds bringing in moisture,” said Sushma Nair, scientist at IMD Mumbai. “After the monsoon onset, the surge was weak. This has now become characteristic of the monsoon, with occasional wet and dry spells. But we are expecting moderate rains after June 19 or June 20, which may continue for a few days to a week.”
On Tuesday, certain areas in the north of the city, including Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, and Chincholi, recorded 10-14 mm of rain. The maximum temperature in Santacruz touched 34.8C, which is 2.7C above normal. In Colaba, it was relatively cooler at 30.8C, 0.7C below normal.