The northwest monsoon arrived in Mumbai on Sunday, two days ahead of schedule. However, the water level of the seven dams that supply potable water to Mumbai has dropped to its lowest in the last three years. Currently, the usable content in all seven dams is only 5.81 per cent, or 81,455 million litres (MLD). Meanwhile, the catchment areas of all seven lakes recorded rainfall with the arrival of the monsoon.
Earlier, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) imposed a water cut of 5 per cent until June and 10 per cent thereafter. Even Chief Minister Eknath Shinde urged citizens to use water judiciously to avoid an inevitable water cut.
In the seven lakes, namely Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Middle Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Vehar, and Tulsi, there is a total of 81,455 million litres of water available, approximately 5.81 per cent of their total capacity. Last year, on the same day, these lakes had 149,451 MLD of water, or 13.03 per cent available.
According to BMC estimates, the available water can sustain the city's needs for the next 20 days. Additionally, from the gross useful contents of Bhatsa, 575,700 MLD has been allocated to BMC. At present, the civic body is getting reserved water from Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna.
With the arrival of the monsoon, the catchment areas of the dams received rainfall. Among the seven lakes, the catchment area of Tulsi Lake received the maximum rainfall of 90 mm, followed by 71 mm in Vehar Lake. Similarly, there was 11 mm of rainfall in the catchment area of Upper Vaitarna, 37 mm in Modak Sagar, 21 mm in Tansa, 39 mm in Middle Vaitarna, and 30 mm in Bhatsa.