Water Level In Mumbai Lakes Crosses Halfway Mark; Almost 6 Times More Than Last Year

The usable water stock in Mumbai’s seven supply lakes has crossed the 50% mark on Friday, easing concerns of a water shortage as the city continues to experience heavy rainfall. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), together the seven water supplying lakes of Mumbai can hold 14,47,363 million litres of usable water.

These lakes are Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vihar, and Tulsi.  They are spread across the districts of Mumbai, Thane, and Nashik and depend largely on monsoon rainfall to replenish their levels. The arrival of the early southwest monsoon in the city has helped to replenish the water levels in these lakes.

Overall, their combined capacity stood at 50.75% with 734562 million litres of water. A year ago, this figure stood at just 8.5% of total capacity.

Of the seven lakes, Bhatsa has the highest overall capacity to store 7,17,037 million litres of useful water. At the moment, it carries 42.13% of this capacity. Meanwhile, Upper Vaitarna lake is at 66.38% capacity, the highest among all. It currently stores 1,50,720 million litres of water against the capacity of 2,27,047 million litres.

The data showed that water levels surged in all seven lakes in the past 24 hours following significant rainfall in the region. While Modak Sagar received the highest rainfall at 78 mm, Vehar recorded the lowest at 24 mm, according to BMC data.

The water levels in these lakes is expected to surge further as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted continued rainfall for the city in the coming days. Parts of Mumbai are expected to receive up to very heavy rainfall till July 7, according to the IMD. The weather body has placed the city on a yellow alert from July 5 to 7. Similar weather conditions will prevail in Thane as well.

July 4: Moderate rainfall across the city with up to 15 mm/hour rain expected in Mumbai Suburban during morning hours.

July 5: “Very likely” chances of heavy rainfall at a few places

July 6: “Very likely” chances of heavy rainfall at a few places

July 7: “Very likely” chances of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places