Mumbai's Tansa & Vihar Lakes Overflow After Heavy Rainfall, But Water Stock At 59% - Sufficient for Next 6 Months

Mumbai: Tansa and Vihar lakes overflowed on Wednesday after heavy rainfall. However, the water level in the seven lakes has reached only up to 59% of their total capacity. Hence, the current water stock could be sufficient for the next six months. 

Vihar lake, located in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, overflowed at 12.48 am, while the Tansa lake, located in Thane district, overflowed at 4.35 am on Wednesday. Tulsi, the smallest among the seven lakes that supply water to the city, overflowed on July 20. Vihar lake contributes 90 million litres (ML) while Tansa lake supplies 455 ML of water daily to Mumbai. Despite heavy rainfall, the current stock in the seven lakes is the lowest in the last three years. 

Total water stock in the lakes is 8.52 lakh ML

At present, the total water stock in the lakes is 8.52 lakh ML, while it was 12.67 lakh ML in 2022 and 9.64 lakh ML in 2021. The lakes must have 14.47 lakh ML water stock on October 1, to be sufficient for the whole year. As per BMC, 1% of the water stock is equal to three days of supply. According to it, the current stock is sufficient for 177 days. So, the civic authorities have decided to continue the 10% water cut, which has been imposed since July 1, said the civic sources. 

Currently, the other important lakes like Bhatsa have (49%), Upper Vaitarna (31%), Middle Vaitarna (68%) and Modak Sagar (88%) water stock of their total capacity. "We will take a review of water stock in the next few days and decide about increasing the water cut," said a senior civic official. 

Pointers:

Current stock (million litres) in lakes

Upper Vaitarna - 71,329

Modak Sagar - 1,13,056

Tansa - 1,44,946

Middle Vaitarna - 1,31,503

Bhatsa - 3,56,378

Vihar - 27,698

Tulsi - 8,046