Mumbai: Heavy rains in catchment areas ensure lakes filled, supply sufficient till next monsoon

Mumbai: Heavy rainfall in the catchment areas has filled Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna, two of the lakes that supply water to the city, to almost to its full capacity.

The seven lakes that supply water to the city currently have 14.37 lakh million litres (ML) out of their total capacity of 14.47 lakh ML. The city now has sufficient water supply till the next monsoon.

Heavy rainfall in the catchment areas has filled up the seven lakes to their current levels in the shortest period as compared to the previous few years. Presently Modak Sagar, Vihar and Tulsi lakes have 100% stock while Bhatsa was filled up to 100% on Tuesday morning at 6 am. It contributes 48 % of the water supply to the city.

Meanwhile, Upper Vaitarna, another important lake, is filled up to 98.73%.

Modak Sagar lake started overflowing on July 13, Tansa lake on July 14, Tulsi on July 16, and Vihar lake on August 11. Besides Bhatsa lake, Upper Vaitarna provides 16%, Middle Vaitarna 12%, Modak Sagar 11% and Tansa 10%. While Tulsi and Vihar, the two lakes located in the city provide around 1% to 2% of the required water supply.

The total water stock in the lakes in 2021 was 14.14 lakh ml, or 97.72% and it was 14.16 lakh ML in 2020. The BMC, which supplies 3,850 million litres of water to the city every day, takes stock of the water level in the lakes on October 1 annually.

The city falls short of 10,000 ML of water for supply to continue throughout the year till next July.

Published on: Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 11:59 PM IST