No additional water cut in Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation announces no additional water cut as the catchment area of Morbe dam receives good rainfall, but the current cut will continue. The dam has water left for 54 days.

NAVI MUMBAI: With the catchment area of Morbe dam receiving a good rainfall, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has announced that there will be no additional water cut. The present cut will, however, continue as the dam has water left for 54 days.

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Located near Khalapur in Raigad district on Dhavri river, the NMMC-owned dam is Navi Mumbai’s primary source of water.

The NMMC-owned dam has so far received 544 mm rain this year, double of what it had received last year at the same time. The water level in the 88-metre dam is presently at 70.17 m with 53.935 million cubic metres (MCM) against the maximum storage capacity of 190.89 MCM.

For the last few years, the dam has not overflowed, while it had done so for three consecutive years between 2017 and 2019, receiving a record over 5,250 mm rainfall in 2019.

The dam’s catchment area received 4,226.80 mm rainfall in 2021, leading to 190.890 MCM water. However, there was lesser rainfall of 3,559.40 mm, leading to a reduced water stock of 188.088 MCM in 2022.

Sanjay Desai, NMMC city engineer, said, “Morbe has filled up just 28.25% so far. The dam’s total gross storage capacity is 190.890 MCM and we already have 186.585 MCM. There is a need for around 4000 mm rainfall in the catchment area for the dam to fill up.”

“For now, we are not resorting to additional water cut, but will continue with the present half day cut per week till the situation stabilises,” he added.