Tansa overflows, civic body puts cloud seeding on hold

The incessant rain also brought some good news for Mumbaiites on Monday. Tansa Lake, which contributes 11% of the city’s daily water supply started overflowing in the afternoon.

The incessant rain also brought some good news for Mumbaiites on Monday. Tansa Lake, which contributes 11% of the city’s daily water supply started overflowing in the afternoon.

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Of the six lakes that supply potable water to the city, Tansa lake is the second to have reached the full supply level. Modak Sagar Lake had overflowed earlier on August 8.

With the increase in the water stock in the past few days, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has ruled out an urgent need to carry out cloud seeding this year.

The current water stock stands at nearly 10.5 lakh million litres — only 2.5 lakh million litres short of reaching the 12.5 lakh million litre mark of stock required to last till the onset of the next monsoon.

“Tansa reaching the overflow mark is a good thing for the water stock situation in Mumbai. There remains no urgent need to carry out cloud seeding. However, it is also important for the two major lakes of Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa to fill up sufficiently,” said Sitaram Kunte, municipal commissioner.

Kunte also announced that the BMC has decided to make cloud seeding a long term policy measure.

“We are going to establish a continual understanding with the agencies concerned to undertake cloud seeding in the catchment areas on a yearly basis,” said Kunte. “It has become important to carry out experiments every year and conduct a study of clouds and whether they can be seeded.”

A decision on reconsidering the current 10% cut in water supply, however, will be taken only after September 15.