The intermittent (heavy to moderate) rainfall in the catchment areas of the lakes supplying water to Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) throughout Tuesday and Wednesday has led to a rise in their total water stock. However, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that this stock is still lower in comparison to that recorded in 2020 for the same time period.
Mumbai receives a total of 3, 350 million litres of water per day (MLD) from the seven lakes - Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Madhya Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Vihar and Tulsi.
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, morning the city’s total water stock (useful/portable) stood at 1,83,529 million litres against June 9, 2020, when the total water stock in six (excluding Upper Vaitarna) of the seven lakes was 2,02,152 million litres.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already predicted an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane and adjoining areas for this week. With this, the civic officials are expecting more rainfall in the catchment areas.
The rise can be attributed to moderate to heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of all the seven lakes, particularly the smaller ones Vihar and Tulsi, which received the highest rainfall of 68 mm and 107 mm, respectively, among others.
“Last year, in June and July, we did not have much rainfall and water stock in the lakes was low considering the amount required to supply water to Mumbai throughout the year. So, we had announced a 10 per cent water cut. However, after good rainfall in the catchment areas in August and September, we withdrew the water cut. This year, we are optimistic. Even though this is a minor rise, we are hoping as the season progresses, all the seven lakes will be filled so that we have enough water stock to last till next year,” said a senior officer from BMC’s Hydraulic Engineer’s Department.
