BMC to carry out lake tapping at Modak Sagar

The BMC is set to carry out lake tapping of one of its lakes – Modak Sagar – located at the Thane district, on Wednesday.

The move will help BMC improve the pressure of water supply, in future.

Keeping in mind the daily water requirement in the city, the decision was taken to increase an additional source of water. "Increasing the intake capacity to increase water pressure and water supply to residents, was imperative. Thus, an additional intake well at the reservoir was also constructed," a civic official from the water department said.

The civic body had constructed a tunnel to tap water from the lake to the well. "It was impossible to see through the tunnel, if the work was done work manually. Hence, the lake tapping would be done by conducting dynamite explosion in the reservoir," the official added.

For the process, three levels have been created through the tunnel for the flow of lake water. On Wednesday, explosion would be carried out at the third level, below the water level.
The approximate cost of the project would be Rs222 crore. The government has also permitted the assistance of a geological expert and two engineers who helped the government perform such an experiment in the Koyna dam in Satara, in April 2012.