Mumbai’s water stock set to last for 39 days, BMC says no water cut amid good rainfall forecasts

Meanwhile, civic officials said no water cut is in the pipeline. “There is no decision for imposing any water cut yet. We (BMC) are in constant contact with the weather bureau, which has predicted good rainfall in the catchment areas starting in mid-June. Therefore, we are confident that the catchment areas will replenish once the rain picks up. In addition to this, around 5.79 million litres of water was given to the BMC by the state government for reserve stock in case the rains delay any further,” an official told the Indian Express Monday.

Being an island city, Mumbai draws its water from seven lakes–Tulsi, Vihar, Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, and Modak Sagar. While two of these lakes are located within Mumbai, the rest are in the neighbouring districts of Thane, Palghar and Nashik. The catchment area of these lakes gets filled during the monsoon, and the water is transported through tunnels to the BMC’s filtration plant. After filtration, water is supplied to every household and commercial establishment through pipelines and reservoirs.

The civic body’s data shows that last year, on June 9, Mumbai’s water stock stood at 5.95 per cent, while in 2023, the stocks stood at 10.63 per cent on the same day. Monsoon onset typically occurred between June 15 and 25 in the last two years, following which rainfall in the catchment areas increased only during the middle of July. Civic officials said that by the end of August or the first week of September, all seven lakes will reach their 100 per cent capacity.

The BMC’s data also shows that in the last 24 hours, only the catchment areas of Modak Sagar and Tansa lakes received a good amount of rainfall, with daily amounts of 1 and 2 mm, respectively. Meanwhile, to date, since the monsoon onset took place, the highest quantum of rainfall has been recorded at Bhatsa lake at 132 mm, followed by 125 mm at Tulsi lake, 54 mm at Middle Vaitarna, 49 mm at Vihar, 40 mm at Modak Sagar, 35 mm at Tansa and 17 mm at Upper Vaitarna.