No plans for water cut in Mumbai, says BMC

With monsoon around the corner, the seven lakes that supply drinking water to the city have water stock that can last for around 50 days, and with forecast for sufficient rain, there are no plans for water cuts, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)

With monsoon around the corner, the seven lakes that supply drinking water to the city have water stock that can last for around 50 days, and with forecast for sufficient rain, there are no plans for water cuts, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

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According to the data, the water level in the seven lakes supplying drinking water to the city is 12.84%, which is 185,864 million litres, of the total capacity of 1,447,363 million litres. The level was 14.25% in 2020 and 8.30% in 2019. Vihar Lake and Tulsi Lake that are located inside Mumbai are 38.75% and 35.34% full, respectively. Vihar was 24.66% full last year at this time, while Tulsi lake was 32.53% full. Further, Bhatsa, which supplies 55% of the total annual water requirement, is at 12.40%, compared to 14.08% last year.

In case of Upper Vaitarna, the water level is 0%, as of Tuesday, same as last year. Modak Sagar has 31.87% water compared to 38.81% last year. In case of Tansa lake, the water level is 12.27% compared to 13.33% last year, 12.60% in Middle Vaitarna dam compared to 13.65% last year.

The city had experienced 20% water cut in August 2020 amid the Covid outbreak owing to low level of water in the lakes. Last year, BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal had also prepared a backup plan to bring water to Mumbai from Bhandardara dam in Ahmednagar, if required.

A BMC official from the hydraulics department said, “The forecast of rainfall for this year is good, and it looks like there might be no need for any water cut. However, we are monitoring the situation. A decision will be taken in the next one month depending on the rainfall and water stock.”

The seven lakes are bifurcated into two systems – the Vaitarna system that supplies to the western suburbs and the island city, and the Bhatsa system supplies to the eastern suburbs.

The lakes are situated in Mumbai as well as neighbouring Thane and Palghar districts. The civic body supplies 3,850 million litres of water daily against the city’s demand for 4,200 million litres.