Mumbai: Stock Of 7 Lakes Supplying Water Drops To 8%, Cuts To Continue

Mumbai: The stock of seven lakes supplying water to the city dropped to 8% on Wednesday. So, the citizens will have to face a 5% water cut from May 30. This water cut will be further increased to 10% from June 5, as announced by the BMC. The water cut will continue till the catchment area of lakes recieves satisfactory rainfall and the useful stock increases, said a senior civic official.

On Wednesday the total water stocks in the lakes stood at 8.67% or 1.25 lakh million litres (ML), which is the lowest compare to the previous two years. During this period last year, the water stocks were 1.94 lakh ML and 2.68 lakh ML in 2022.

"The lakes should have 14.47 lakhs million litres of water on October 1. Last year there was relatively less rainfall in the month of October. Also, the lake level has been depleted rapidly due to loss of water from evaporation," said a civic official of BMC's Hydraulic Engineering department.

As per sources, the loss of water in the catchment of lakes due to evaporation is roughly 9% of Mumbai's daily requirement. Meanwhile, the state government has allowed the civic body to use the additional stock of 2.28 lakh million litres (ML) from Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna lakes. However, a water cut will be imposed as a precaution from Thursday.

The 5% and 10% water cut will also be applicable to the water supply given to Thane, Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, and other villages by the BMC. The India Meteorological Department has predicted the timely arrival of the monsoon this year, which gives hopes for the city. The official onset date of the monsoon over Mumbai is June 11.

The BMC has appealed to the citizens to conserve water and use it judiciously. Last year, a water cut of 10% was imposed for a month, which was withdrawn by August 9. The seven lakes supply 3,900 million litres of water daily to the city.