City to face 10% water cut starting today, lack of rain worries officials

Mumbaiites will face a 10% water cut from Sunday as the dry spell continues and the water stock in the lakes that provide water to the city continue to dip. Alok Deshpande reports.

Mumbaiites will face a 10% water cut from Sunday as the dry spell continues and the water stock in the lakes that provide water to the city continue to dip.

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Officials from the water department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the water cut would not trouble the city much.

“It is only a 10% cut. We will also keep on analysing the rainfall and water levels in the lakes at regular intervals. If it rains and water reaches a certain required level, we will cancel the applied water cut,” said AS Tawadia, deputy hydraulic engineer (planning and control).

Lack of rain in catchment areas of the six lakes has become a cause of concern for civic officials. In the last 48 hours (June 28 and 29), Modak Sagar, Tansa and Upper Vaitarna did not receive any rainfall.

The Vihar Lake received a rainfall of around 60mm and 2.60 mm respectively on the two days. While Tulsi received 71mm rainfall on June 28, no rainfall was recorded on June 29. Bhatsa received light showers of around 1.20 mm on June 29. The total rainfall received by all the lakes till now, except Tulsi, is the lowest in the last two years(see box).

On June 30, the lakes had a combined water stock of 66,354 million litres, with the level of Upper Vaitarna dropping below the minimum level required to draw water. The city presently receives 3,430 million litres of water and once the 10% water cut is applied, it will receive 3,087 million litres per day.

“We appeal to the citizens to inform us about any water leakages in pipelines in their area,” said Tawadia on behalf of the civic administration.