No water cuts for now, says BMC

Mumbaikars can now have a sigh of relief. Two days of decent showers and  water in the lakes in catchment areas has risen, increasing the useful content of water that can be supplied to the city by 14,619 million litre (ml) overnight.

Currently, the total stock in the lakes stands at 2,06,522 ml, while last year the total available water stock in all six lakes was only 1,15,735 million litres. Given the erratic monsoon season so far, officials are hoping that the target would be achieved by the end of September.

“The water situation is good compared to the last two years and so far, there is no fear of water cut this year,” said Ramesh Bamble, chief hydraulic engineer.

The increase rate has been steady for last few days. “The lake level is continuously rising for last few days as it is pouring at catchment area of the lakes. Tulsi and Vihar lakes are close to overflowing,” Bamble added.

Bhatsa lake which supplies about 60% water to the city now has a useful content supply of 13,158 million litres. On Friday morning, it received 102mm of rain and on Saturday morning it recorded 30.6mm of rain. The entire total received this monsoon has been 484mm of rainfall.

“If it continues to rain like this, the lakes could overflow in the ext four days,” said officials from hydraulic department on condition of anonymity. “When the lakes start overflowing it will be safe to declare that there is enough water to last for the dry season,” the official added.