The stock in lakes supplying water to the city has crossed the 88 per cent mark on Thursday. Even as the lake levels have now stagnated since the rain has slowed down, the available water stock is sufficient for the next 330 days. With this, the city may not have to face water cuts this year, civic officials said.
From July 16 to 23, the catchment areas received good rainfall; thus accumulating the maximum amount of water in the lakes. On July 17, the overall water stock in the seven lakes was just 17 per cent. As a result, the civic body was considering announcing a water cut. However, by July 22, the water levels had crossed the 50 per cent mark, followed by 60 per cent on July 24 and 70 per cent on July 28. After a two-week lull, the monsoon picked up pace once again and the water level rose to 82.91 per cent on August 16.
The same has now risen to 88.18 per cent as of August 26. In 2020 and 2019, during the same period, the water stock in the seven lakes was between 94.90 per cent and 96.22 per cent, respectively.
“The 85 per cent water stock is considered to be sufficient. Hopefully, we will not have to face any water cuts. We also have an entire month of September. The water level may cross the 95 per cent mark by the end of September,” said an official from the departments of hydraulics.
However, the civic body will continue to monitor the rainfall and water stock in the lakes till mid-September.
Mumbai draws water from Bhatsa, middle Vaitarna, upper Vaitarna, Tansa and Modak Sagar, which are in Thane and Nashik districts. Tulsi and Vihar are the only two lakes located within the city limits.
According to the BMC, till August 26, all seven lakes had 12,76,285 million litres of water as against the total required capacity of 14,47,363 lakh million litres, which is required for Mumbai.
The seven lakes are classified into two systems, the Vaitarna system (consisting of upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa and Modak Sagar) which supplies water to the western suburbs and the island city, and the Bhatsa system (consisting of Bhatsa, Vihar and Tulsi lake) which supplies to the eastern suburbs.
As of August 26, the usable water stock in the Vaitarna system was 88.13 per cent as compared to 94.38 last year. Overall all Bhatsa system + Vaitarna system has a water stock of 88.18 per cent.
