Mumbai: Civic body likely to declare water cuts once polls are over

There is only 26 per cent water in the reservoir, but there is no sign of BMC announcing any water cuts. Corporators fear that there will be severe water cuts once the elections are over. In 2014 and 2015, BMC announced 20 per cent water cut to use water judiciously.

The city received poor rainfall in the catchment area and all seven lakes which supply water to the city had a combined stock of 91 per cent at the end of monsoon. This is unlike regular monsoon when the lakes are full till the end of September. This prompted the BMC to declare 10 per cent water cut on November 14 when the stock dropped to 76 per cent. Currently, it has reduced to 26 per cent. The other cause of worry is the forecast of El Niño condition this year.

"The BMC is not making any official announcement. There is only 10 per cent water cut officially, many parts of the city receive far less water. Maybe the BMC will call for more water cuts after the election," Ravi Raja, leader of pposition in the BMC.

"The BMC is hiding the situation of water scarcity," alleged Rais Shaikh from Samajwadi Party. He added that the ruling party had failed to clear the Gargai- Pinjal dam project.

Also, the city lost 25 to 30 per cent water in the leakages due to corrosion, undetected water supply etc. City gets water from seven lakes- Tansa, Modak Sagar, Madhya Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Tulsi and Vihar- which have the total capacity to stock 14.47 lakh litre of water.