The civic authority has officially announced water cuts in the coming week, as Mumbai's water stock has dipped from 93 per cent on October 1 to 77 per cent on November 11.
Taps in many parts of the city have already been dripping woes with dropping water supply and low water pressure, and it is only going to get drier now. The civic authority has officially announced water cuts in the coming week, as Mumbai's water stock has dipped from 93 per cent on October 1 to 77 per cent on November 11.
Generally, the city uses 10 per cent of the water stock every month.
The city draws its water from seven lakes and dams with a collective storage capacity of 14.50 lakh million litre. If the lakes get full on October 1, the city gets uninterrupted water supply till July the year after. This is essential to meet the citizens' needs espexially if the monsoon has been unpredictable or set in late. But this year, water level remained up to 93 per cent at the end of September.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) didn't declare any water cut in October, but several parts of the city already faced water scarcity because of various technical issues. After Colaba, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Charkop faced uneven water supply for several days. Corporators blamed the civic body for unofficial water cut. But now the civic body may officially impose water cuts across the city as the big festival Diwali is over.
"Lakes level is low compared to average. So we need to use water carefully, " said a senior civic official. He added, "We are keeping an eye on the water level. After discussion with the state irrigation department, division of water cut may come in a few days."
There are other options for water cut. Civic official is considering alternatives by using reserved water stock. But this decision can be taken in summer after reviewing the situation at that time. As the state government already declared drought in several villages. It is most likely that civic body also takes the decision to use water wisely.
As on November 11, the Bhatsa dam has 78 per cent water stock- about 50% of Mumbai's water supply come from this lake. The Bhatsa had 91 per cent water on 1st October. The other lakes water level also dropped to 76 per cent.
Dipping stock (in mn litre)
11 Nov 2018 - 11,16,965
11 Nov 2017 - 13,38,415
11 Nov 2016 - 13,08,490
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