Lake levels rise but water cuts to continue, say civic officials

The average rainfall in the catchment areas of five lakes providing water to the city between Saturday and Sunday morning added 66,106 million liters of water – equivalent to 17 days of city’s normal water supply

The city’s water stock has increased compared to last year bringing the much-needed relief to the residents.

People enjoy the waterfall at Powai Garden in Mumbai on Sunday. (Prashant Waydande / Hindustan Times)

The civic body had recorded 3,02,313 million litres of water last year on July 10. The water stock available this year is 3,65,247 million litres. A rise in the water level in comparison to last year is reported after a year, said civic officials.

The officials added that there is still a long wait ahead to decide on whether the ongoing water cuts should be called off or not.

The civic body’s water-distribution planning and whether a cut will be implemented or not is decided after calculating the stock average available in the past few years on the same date.

Considering this modus, there is no additional cut expected as the stock recorded on Sunday morning was the second-highest recorded on this date in the past five years.

The civic body had announced 20 per cent water cut last August after there was no rise in the water stock in comparison with the 2014 data.

The average rainfall in the catchment areas of five lakes providing water to the city between Saturday and Sunday morning added 66,106 million litres of water – equivalent to 17 days of city’s normal water supply.

A senior civic official said, “We need 14.37 lakh million litres of water to supply to the city without implementing any water cut, which is still far to be achieved. With good amount of rainfall and considering past few years’ average, we will decide on calling off the water cut but for now it will continue.”