Water Level In Mumbai Lakes Decline To 12.14% As Monsoon Rain Subsides
As of 6 a.m. on June 4, the seven lakes in Mumbai had a cumulative 1,75,728 million litres of water, or 12.14% of the total capacity of 14,47,363 million litres.
Water levels across the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai have come down to little over 12% from 15% a week ago, despite one of the earliest onsets of the southwest monsoon in India's financial capital.
As per the official data, the lakes had a cumulative 1,75,728 million litres of water or 12.14% of the total capacity of 14,47,363 million litres at 6 a.m. on Jun. 4.
This marked a significant rise in water levels from 7.05% (or 1,02,052 million litres) during the same period last year. In 2023, it stood at 1,70,192 (11.76%).
The seven lakes supplying water to the city are Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vehar and Tulsi. These are located in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik districts of Maharashtra.
On June 4, Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Middle Vaitarna and Tansa water bodies had a cumulative 94,556 million litres of useful water, representing 13.61% of their total capacity of 6,94,582 million litres. Earlier, they contained a cumulative 1,19,264 million litres of water on May 25.
Among all of them, Modak Sagar (30.41%), Vehar (32.01%) and Tulsi (30.78%) have the maximum storage till Wednesday, while Upper Vaitarna has the lowest at 5.17%.
All of the seven lakes have witnessed a dip in their water levels in the last 24 hours, the data shows.
Mumbaikars heavily rely on these seven lakes to get a regular supply of drinking water. The monsoon season plays a major role in their recharge levels every year.
On June 3, the water level in the seven lakes stood at 1,80,937 or 12.50% of the total capacity.
A key reason behind the decline in water levels could be the intermittent spells of light rainfall that have been witnessed over Mumbai and its neighbouring districts in the past few days.
This happened after the city faced severe disruption due to intense rainfall activity on May 26, forcing the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall for the city. Heavy downpour had waterlogged several roads in the city. The Colaba weather station recorded 135.4 mm of rain by 8:30 a.m. on May 26. The city broke a 107-year-old rainfall record for the month of May.
SD Sanap, a scientist with the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Pune office, earlier informed that the monsoon rains have subsided and might strengthen from June 11-12 onwards to cover the remaining areas in the country, according to an NDTV report.
Around June 11, a weather system might develop in the Bay of Bengal that will go on to strengthen the monsoon. This will create favourable conditions for the southwest monsoon's further progress in the northern parts of the country, an official from the weather department said.
