Dry spell in Mumbai leaves water stock for only 70 days
BMC SAYS THE WATER LEVEL IS 18% IN 7 LAKES, WHICH WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR THE NEXT 70 DAYS
MUMBAI: In the past 10 days, there has not been a significant increase in the water levels at seven lakes supplying drinking water to the city.
According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s data, the water level is 18% in the seven lakes, which will be sufficient for the next 70 days. However, this is less than the past two years. At this time in 2020, the city had around 80 days of water stock, and it was 100 days in 2019. The lake levels have not gone up significantly owing to less rainfall in July.
According to BMC’s data, Vihar Lake that is located inside Mumbai was over 61% full, followed by another lake inside the city — Tulsi Lake — at 74%. Last year at this time, both Tulsi and Vihar had a mere 67% and 41% water level.
Further, Bhatsa, which supplies 55% of the total annual water requirement, the water level is 18%, down from 22% last year at this time. In Tansa, the water level is 30%, which was 20% last year at this time, followed by Modak Sagar with 31% water stock which was 33% last year at this time. In the case of Upper Vaitarna, the water level is 0%, as of Tuesday. Last year at this time too, there was no water left in the Upper Vaitarna dam. Lastly, Middle Vaitarna has 11% of water stock which was 18% last year at this time.
On the other hand, Powai Lake, which supplies water to the civic body for non-potable purposes, overflowed on June 12 this year. Last year, Powai Lake was full on July 5.
The seven lakes are bifurcated into two systems — the Vaitarna system supplies to the western suburbs and the island city, and the Bhatsa system supplies to the eastern suburbs.
An official from BMC’s hydraulics department said, “We are yet to get rainfall for the month of July. Hence, any decision on water cuts will now depend on how much rainfall we will get in the month of July. A decision will be taken in the coming days based on the rainfall patterns.” The civic body supplies 3,850 million litres of water daily against the city’s demand for 4,200 million litres.
Two weeks ago, BMC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an Israel-based firm for the city’s first desalination project at Manori in Malad. Under this project, the civic body plans to turn seawater into drinking water. The pilot project for the same is expected to be ready by 2025.