Mumbai: Water Crisis Deepens, Lake Levels Drops To 10.67%, Officials Weighing Water Cuts

Mumbai: The total water stock in the seven lakes has now dropped to 10.67%, which is the lowest compared to the previous two years. Though the state government has allotted additional water stock from Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna lake, the depleting levels in the lakes has worried civic officials. However, at present there are no plans for water cuts, the decision will be taken as per the situation, said a senior civic official. 

The civic authorities took a review of the available water stock on Wednesday. According to the civic official, "We can utilise the additional stock of 2.28 lakh million litres (ML) allotted by the state government from Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna lakes. Our concern is how to tackle and minimise the massive loss of water from evaporation. If the stock continues to deplete rapidly, we will have to impose water cuts," As per sources, the loss of water in the catchment of lakes due to evaporation is roughly 9% of Mumbai's daily requirement. 

Bhushan Gagrani, municipal commissioner said, "Currently, there are no plans to impose water cuts in the city. But we will take a review next week." The BMC utilised some of the reserve water stock from Upper Vaitarna lake till the catchment areas of other lakes received heavy rainfall in July last year. Also, a water cut of 10% was imposed for a month, which was withdrawn by August 9. The seven lakes supply 3,900 million litres of water daily to the city. The city requires 14.47 lakh ML of water stock in the seven lakes on October 1, which is sufficient for the whole year.