Less than normal rainfall in August has increased the concern of BMC in Mumbai. BMC commissioner I.S. Chahal has appealed to Mumbaikars to use water judiciously. He said that the major lakes that supply water to Mumbai are still empty. As of 6 am on August 19, all seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai had 83.51 percent of their total storage capacity. However, while canceling the water cut on August 9, Chahal had said that there was good rainfall in July. The same situation is expected to remain in August and September 2023 as well. At the time of canceling the cut, the lakes had about 81 percent water.
Chahal said none of the major lakes that supply water to Mumbai are currently overflowing. The news of the overflow of water supply lakes is being circulated on social media. This is baseless. Upper Vaitarna Lake, the largest of the major lakes, had a water stock of 71.09 percent of its total storage capacity, while Bhatsa Lake had 78.16 percent of its total storage capacity.
Let us tell you that Mumbai gets 3850 MLD water supply daily from Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Bhatsa, Tulsi and Vihar lakes. BMC can supply water to Mumbai till the next monsoon without any cut only if there is a stock of 14,47,363 MLD water in the seven lakes as on October 1.
During the monsoon, 2 gates of ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Reservoir’ i.e. Middle Vaitarna Lake were opened this week. The water released from this was stored in the Modak Sagar Lake in the lower part of the same. Due to some technical and security reasons, the gates of the ponds have to be opened even when they are not completely filled. Officials said that opening the gate does not mean that the lake has overflowed. There is much less rainfall in August as compared to July. An official of the BMC hydraulics department said that Mumbai’s Vihar Lake is 100 percent full and Tulsi Lake is 99 percent full, while very little water is supplied from these lakes.
The stock of water in the lakes of Mumbai:
– Upper Vaitarna: 161400 MLD – 71.09 percent
– Modak Sagar: 123313 MLD – 95.65 percent
– Tansa – 142004 MLD – 97.88 percent
– Middle Vaitarna – 185811 MLD – 96.01 percent
– Bhatsa – 560462 MLD – 78.16 percent
– Vihar – 27698 MLD – 100 percent
– Tulsi – 7936 MLD – 98.63 percent
