Mumbai may face water cuts this year

After a good start to the monsoon, which lead to five of seven lakes overflowing in mid-July itself, water in reservoirs are currently eight per cent lower than the average water level expected. The lower-than-expected level could lead to the municipal corporation imposing water supply cuts across the city this summer. The water level is at 92 per cent as compared to 'full to the brim' level like previous years.

Mumbai gets its water from seven lakes - Tulsi and Vihar, which are in Mumbai and five others in Thane and Nashik districts. The total capacity of these lakes is more than 14 million litres of water. There was good rainfall in catchment areas of these lakes in July and August this year.

Tulsi, Modak Sagar, Vihar, Tansa and Middle Vaitarna lakes started overflowing between July 9 to 20. However, the water only filled 95 per cent of these lakes. One of the reasons behind this could be less rainfall in September. Although BMC will be making a decision during a meeting for the same, officials were not willing to talk to DNA on the issue.

"BMC will consider the water level till October 1. We will conduct a meeting next week to take a decision over the city's water supply," said Ashok Tawadia, Chief Engineer of the Water Supply Department. "The city needs water for 304 days to sustain till the onset of next monsoon. As of now, water levels are adequate for the city. However, we will keep reviewing water lever at regular intervals," said another BMC official.

Water cuts are not new to the city. Two years ago, Mumbai had faced water cuts in mid of the rainy season. BMC had announced a 20 per cent cut in the water supply on August 26, 2015, which had applied up till the next monsoon. Even in 2014, the civic body had imposed water cuts on July 2 due to delay in rainfall. In 2009, poor rainfall had resulted in up to 30 per cent cut in the water supply.