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While Mumbai is experiencing a light showers, the catchment areas of the seven lakes supplying the city have received heavy rainfall. As of Saturday, the combined water stock reached 10.77 lakh million litres (ML), which is 75% of their total capacity, and is sufficient to meet the city’s needs for the next 272 days.
Despite the early arrival of the monsoon, lake levels had dropped to just 8.64% by the third week of June, prompting the BMC to tap into reserve stocks from Upper Vaitarna lake allocated by the state government. However, heavy rainfall over the past 25 days has rapidly boosted storage from 1.24 lakh ML to 10.69 lakh ML, the fastest rise in recent years. In comparison, the water stock during the same period was just 3.29 lakh ML (22.89%) in 2022 and 4 lakh ML (27.62%) in 2023.
As of now, Modak Sagar, one of Mumbai’s seven drinking water sources, overflowed on July 9. Meanwhile, Middle Vaitarna has reached 92.75% of its capacity, with two gates opened since July 7 to release excess water and prevent flooding. While the early filling of lakes is a relief, civic officials have noted that the current stock must sustain through September to ensure no water shortage until the next monsoon.
According to the BMC, the lakes need to collectively hold 14.47 lakh ML by October 1 to ensure uninterrupted water supply for the entire year. The BMC currently supplies 3,950 ML of water daily to meet the city's needs.
