People make their way through a waterlogged street after heavy rainfall in Mumbai, India, Sunday, July 18, 2021. (AP) As heavy rain lashed Mumbai and Thane districts, a 44 per cent increase was recorded in water stock at the seven lakes that provide drinking water to the city. In 24 hours, water stock in all seven reservoirs increased by 1,28,093 million litres.
With incessant and heavy rainfall along the West coast, including Mumbai and Thane, 1,28,093 million litres of water or water supply worth one month was added to the seven lakes supplying water to the city.
According to BMC data, as of July 19, all seven lakes have 4,15,175 million litres of water or 28.68 per cent of the total capacity of 14,47,363 lakh million litres.
Mumbai draws water from Bhatsa, Middle Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Tansa and Modak Sagar, which are in Thane and Nashik districts. Tulsi and Vihar are two lakes located within city limits in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. This year, after heavy rainfall in early June, rainfall in catchment areas of the lakes was very poor. Out of the seven, Tulsi and Vihar overflowed on July 16 and 18.
Bhatsa lake is the major supplier of water to the city and is at 27.52 per cent (1,97,321 million litres) of its capacity. Bhatsa also supplies water to neighbouring cities of Thane and Bhiwandi. In 24 hours, ending at 6 am on Monday, Bhatsa lake received 201 mm of rain.
All seven lakes received rainfall between 69 mm and 306 mm in 24 hours.
Mumbai gets about 3,900 million litres of water daily from these seven lakes. Earlier, on July 12, Powai lake, which supplies water to industries, had also overflowed.
Last year in August, Mumbai faced water cuts as water levels in catchment areas of the lakes was low due to lack of rainfall.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
