Enough water in lakes for another 50 days, says BMC

Even though the monsoon continues to play truant, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) says that with the total rainfall that catchment areas have received so far, the city will be able to tide over the next 50 days comfortably.

Even though the monsoon continues to play truant, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) says that with the total rainfall that catchment areas have received so far, the city will be able to tide over the next 50 days comfortably.

HT Image

Data available with the BMC shows that the collective water stock in the city’s six lakes stands at 17.8 lakh million litres as against 92.9 thousands million litres last year.

Officials in the hydraulic department said that in June, water stock increased by 68,000 million litres. They said that even though the monsoon hasn’t picked pace as yet, they are hopeful that the catchment areas will receive adequate rainfall after July 15, as this has been the trend in the past few years. The civic body will review the situation in August, officials added.

“The water stock in all six lakes will suffice for more than 50 days. We continue to remain hopeful as the highest rainfall in the catchments is recorded during mid-July,” said chief engineer hydraulic department Ramesh Bambale.

Mayor Shraddha Jadhav said that the water levels in all six lakes were well above the lowest drawable levels and that there was no need to panic. She also said that rainfall in the catchments would be bolstered in a weeks’ time.

According to the BMC data, till date, the catchments have received 2,960mm of rainfall collectively. The highest rainfall of 870mm has been recorded at Tulsi Lake. There has been a negligible increase in the water levels of five out of the total six lakes. A decrease of 0.03m was recorded in the water levels of Upper Vaitarna Lake.

The BMC is solely relying on natural rainfall for the city’s water supply. It has not prepared any contingency plan such as cloud seeding or rain harvesting.