Seven lakes supplying drinking water to Mumbai 90% full

On the same day last year, the lakes were 79.4% full with 11,49,971 ML water stock, and in 2020 they were only 37% full with 5,39,308 ML water stock.
The seven lakes that supply drinking water to Mumbai are Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Middle Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Vehar, and Tulsi, located either in Mumbai at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and neighbouring districts of Thane and Palghar.

In the past 24 hours, the catchment areas of the seven lakes have collectively received 193 mm of rain. Three of these seven lakes already overflowed this monsoon: Modak Sagar lake started overflowing on July 13, Tansa on July 14, and Tulsi on July 16. At present, Modak Sagar is 97.79% full with 1,26,078 ML water stock against a capacity of 1,28,925 ML; Tansa is 98.12% full with 1,42,357 ML water stock against a capacity of 1,45,080 ML; and Tulsi is 100% full with a water stock of 8,046 ML.

Bhatsa dam in Thane, which supplies 55% of the total annual water requirement of the city, is 87.64% full with 6,28,431 ML water stock against a capacity of 7,17,037 ML. On the same day last year, it was 74.89% full. Upper Vaitarna is 83.20% full with a water stock of 1,88,898. Middle Vaitarna is 95.04% full with a water stock of 1,83,927 ML.

The civic body supplies 3,850 million litres of water daily against the city’s demand for almost 4,400 million litres. Accordingly, taking into account evaporation from the surface of the lakes, and loss of water during transport and distribution, Mumbai’s lakes have water stock to last for over 300 days.
Purushottam Malavade, Chief Engineer of BMC’s hydraulics department said, “We are now in a comfortable position, and we have more than one month of the monsoon season left…”