Mumbai, August 7, 2026: Despite being in the middle of the monsoon, Mumbai’s water reserves are shrinking. With no rainfall over the past few days, the combined stock in the seven lakes supplying the city has fallen to 88 per cent of capacity, below the levels recorded during the same period over the past two years, triggering fresh concerns over the city’s water security.
Although the monsoon arrived late on June 23, heavy rainfall during the first week of July rapidly replenished Mumbai’s seven lakes, pushing the combined water stock to nearly 90 per cent by the end of the month. Four key lakes—Modak Sagar, Tansa, Vihar, and Tulsi—also began overflowing, temporarily easing concerns over the city’s water supply.
However, the prolonged dry spell over the past several days has once again triggered concerns. With rainfall coming to a near standstill, the water levels in Mumbai’s seven lakes have started declining steadily.
Lake Levels Decline Amid Dry Spell
Weather experts have attributed the prolonged lull to El Niño conditions and indicated that below-normal rainfall is likely to persist through August and September, raising concerns that the city’s water reserves could come under pressure if the dry spell continues.
As of August 7, the combined water stock in the seven lakes stood at 12.80 lakh million litres (ML), or 88 per cent of their total capacity, lower than the 12.90 lakh ML (89 per cent) recorded on the same day in 2025 and 13.05 lakh ML (90 per cent) in 2024.
Congress Corporator Demands Withdrawal Of Water Cut
Amid growing concerns over the city’s water reserves, Congress corporator Tulip Miranda demanded that the BMC immediately withdraw the 10 per cent water cut imposed since May 15, alleging that residents in her ward continue to face acute water shortages and receive contaminated water despite the improvement in lake levels.
Taking serious note of the issue, Standing Committee Chairman Prabhakar Shinde directed the civic administration to submit a detailed explanation at the next committee meeting on the rationale for continuing the water cut.
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BMC Defends Cautious Approach
Defending the decision, a senior civic official said the current water stock is sufficient to meet Mumbai’s water needs for the next 312 days, but the civic body is following directions from the state irrigation department to maintain a cautious approach in view of the anticipated El Niño impact.
“Mumbai requires around 14.47 lakh ML of water to meet its annual demand. The water cut can be withdrawn only after the combined storage reaches that level by the end of September,” the official said.
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