Maharashtra: Good rainfall fills up seven lakes but not as much as last year

The seven lakes that supply all of Mumbai’s water — 3,750 million litre a day against the actual demand of 4,200 million litre — have seen a rise in water levels after a good spell of rainfall in their catchment areas over the past week. But it is still around 6 per cent less than what they had last year.

Two of the lakes —  Modak Sagar and Tulsi — have surpassed the halfway mark, holding 56 per cent and 51 per cent of their total capacities respectively. 

As of today, according to the civic hydraulic engineering department, the usable content in all the reservoirs is 2,70,668 million litre, which can supply water to the city for at least 70 days.

Over the same period last year, the seven lakes held 3,51,080 million litre.   

In the lakes’ catchment areas, the rainfall recorded till Wednesday was 4,065 mm, the most being for Vehar lake. Tulsi’s catchment areas have received 911 mm rainfall, while Middle Vaitarna’s got 355 mm, bringing its usable water content to 47,064 million litre. 

“We are expecting good rains in the catchment areas in the days to come,” said an official from the hydraulic engineering department.