Water Level In Mumbai Lakes Remain At 15% Despite Record Rainfall, Here’s Why

The arrival of the southwest monsoon in Mumbai on Monday, following the intense showers over the weekend, has not helped to improve the water levels across the seven prominent lakes in the city, which still remain at their pre-showers levels.

Mumbaikars rely on these seven lakes for the supply of drinking water, and the monsoon season plays a key role in their recharge levels.

The official data showed on Tuesday that water levels recorded today at 6 a.m. were not very different compared to the May 25 data, despite the city receiving record rainfall in the last two days.

The data was shared by TOI journalist Richa Pinto in a post on X. She said that the recent rains lashed only South Mumbai and not the catchment areas on the city's outskirts. "Until it rains there, the levels won't rise," she wrote.

The seven lakes that supply water to Mumbai are Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vihar and Tulsi, located in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik districts. The total capacity of these lakes is 14.47 lakh million litres.

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On May 25, Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa water bodies contained a cumulative 1,19,264 million litres of useful content water.

When compared with the May 27 data, it was seen that Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Middle Vaitarna and Tansa water bodies' useful content level stood at 1,13,933 million litres.

All four lakes recorded a dip in their water levels in the last 24 hours. Collectively, their useful content levels made up 16.4% of the total stock capacity. Similarly, while Vihar and Tulsi lakes recorded a slight increase in water levels, Bhatsa was down compared to the past 24-hour data.

The total water stock in the seven lakes supplying to Mumbai was 2.27 lakh million litres on Sunday, amounting to 15.75% of the required water quantum. On Tuesday, this dipped to 15.07% at 2,18,163 million litres.

The data also showed that, except for Vihar and Tulsi, the remaining places did not receive significant rainfall in the last 24 hours. While Vihar received 90 mm of rainfall, Tulsi got 132 mm of rainfall. The remaining lakes received 21 mm or less rainfall, explaining why their levels have not jumped yet.

Mumbai faced severe disruption on Monday due to intense rainfall, with the IMD issuing a red alert for the city. Heavy rain over the past 24 hours caused waterlogged roads and chaos across the city. The Colaba weather station recorded 135.4 mm of rain by 8:30 a.m. Monday, classified as “very heavy rain.” Mumbai also broke a 107-year-old May rainfall record. With Colaba recording 295 mm this month, the previous record of 279.4 mm set in 1918 at the same station has been broken.

The city remains on yellow alert till Wednesday in view of more rainfall, as per the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast.