Tulsi lake overflows; water stock in seven lakes is 32%

Of the seven lakes that supply drinking water to Mumbai, Tulsi lake on Monday night became the first to overflow this monsoon. Tulsi lake is the smallest of the

Of the seven lakes that supply drinking water to Mumbai, Tulsi lake on Monday night became the first to overflow this monsoon. Tulsi lake is the smallest of the seven and supplies only 1% of Mumbai’s total annual water needs. Despite spells of intense rain in the city, the water level of the lakes is lower this year than in July 2019.

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Tulsi lake, located within Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), is usually the first to overflow. The other lakes – Vihar, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, and Bhatsa – are in Thane and Palghar districts. The seven lakes can store up to 14.47 lakh million litres of water and bifurcate into two systems – the Vaitarna system, which supplies water to the western suburbs and the island city; and the Bhatsa system, which supplies water to the eastern suburbs. Three weeks ago, Powai lake had overflowed, but it supplies water only for industrial purposes.

As of Tuesday, the water stock in the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai is just 32%, which could last a little over 100 days. On the same date, the stock had been 75.25% and 83.34% of full capacity in 2019 and 2018 respectively.

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, though there has been good rainfall in the city, catchment areas in lakes and dams have not received much rainfall. BMC said it is closely monitoring the situation and no decision on water cuts has been taken for Mumbai. The civic body supplies 3,750 million litres of water daily against the city’s demand for 4,200 million litres.

Data shared by BMC showed the seven lakes had 4.73 lakh million litres of water – 32.69% of full capacity – on Tuesday. Bhatsa dam, which supplies 55% of the city’s total water requirement, stood at 36.15% of the total capacity, compared to 76.40% at this time in 2019.

Of the total required rainfall for the year, 15% was expected in June and 35% in July. In August, 35% of required rainfall is expected, followed by 15% in September.