Mumbai: The BMC has received bids for its tender to divert excess water from Vihar lake to the Bhandup water treatment plant for filtration. With the move, the civic body aims to resolve the perennial problem of Mithi river flooding nearby areas. When Vihar, which has a limited capacity of 27,698 million litres, overflows following heavy rains, excess water from the lake is released into Mithi. Consequently, areas located in the river's surroundings are inundated during monsoon.
BMC Hydraulic Engineer Purshottam Malvade said, “To resolve the issue, the BMC invited tenders to reuse the extra water. It also received responses from firms. Now, analysis is being done to determine which company is capable of finishing the project.” Suggestions have been also sought from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to ascertain the cost of the project, said sources.
Civic body in 'wait and watch mode'
Meanwhile, the civic body is in a “wait and watch mode” on the issue of deciding whether there is a need for a water cut. Currently, the lakes have a cumulative stock of around 90%.
“At September end, we will decide whether there is a need to impose a water cut or not. We are hoping for wet spells in the catchment areas in the next few days,” said Malvade, adding that a rise of 1% in stock equals a supply of three days.
Owing to the dry spell in August, the BMC had to lift around 800 million liters of water from the Bhatsa dam, said another official. “As the dam is owned by the state government, it charged 11 times more (than the usual rate) from the civic body. It is the government's rule to levy hefty charges during monsoon. We fetched water from Bhatsa just for one day in August,” he added.
Mumbai daily needs 3,850 million litres while the total capacity of all the seven lakes is 14,47,363 million litres.
