After heavy downpour in and around Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday opened a gate of the Modak Sagar dam after it started overflowing at around 9.30 pm on Tuesday. Last year the dam was full by July 26, whereas the year before it had overflowed on July 15, 2019. Tulsi and Vihar lakes, which are located within the city limits, have already filled up.
Powai lake, another lake in the city limits, overflowed earlier. Its water is not used for drinking purposes, though. The BMC has implemented 20 percent water cut in the city as the dams supplying water to Mumbai had less than 50 percent water stock as of July end.
With good rainfall in August, the seven dams have 85 percent water stock on Wednesday. The seven lakes and dam reservoirs that supply drinking water to Mumbai are Tulsi, Tansa, Vihar, Bhatsa, Modak Sagar, Upper Vaitarna, and Middle Vaitarna.
According to data shared by BMC, the seven lakes have 12,32,302 million litres of water or 85.14% as recorded on Wednesday, against the full capacity, which is around 14.47 lakh million litres. Last year, during the same time, water stock was at 94.28% with 13,64,502 million litres, while in 2018 the water stock was 91.83% with 13,29,132 million litres.
At Modak Sagar, 100% of water stock is available, Tansa has 92.18%, Middle Vaitarna 91.71%, Upper Vaitarna has 69.83, Bhatsa 83.38%, Vihar 100% and Tulsi has 100% of useful water level.
In the last 24 hours, Upper Vaitarna received 20.00mm rainfall, Modak Sagar received 26.00mm rainfall, Tansa received 36.00mm rainfall, Middle Vaitarna received 29.00mm rainfall, Bhatsa received 62.00mm rainfall, Vihar received 29.00mm rainfall, and Tulsi 37.00mm rainfall.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the city is expected to receive more rainfall in the next four-five days. The Met department has also issued an orange alert for Kolhapur and Satara districts for Wednesday.
