Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai

Mumbai, Jul 29: The water storage level in Mumbai’s seven lakes supplying drinking water to the city witnessed a slight decline on Wednesday, with the overall live storage standing at 88.17 per cent of the total capacity, according to data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The city’s reservoirs currently hold 12,76,079 million litres (ML) of water against the total storage capacity of 14,47,363 ML. On Tuesday, the combined live storage stood at 88.81 per cent, showing a marginal decline of 0.64 percentage points over 24 hours.

Despite the decrease, three major lakes — Modak Sagar, Vihar and Tulsi — continue to remain at full capacity. Tansa lake is currently at 98.49 per cent, Middle Vaitarna at 87.76 per cent, Bhatsa at 86.43 per cent, and Upper Vaitarna at 78.83 per cent.

Among the reservoirs, Upper Vaitarna recorded the highest rainfall in the last 24 hours at 69 mm, followed by Bhatsa with 48 mm, Tansa with 45 mm, Modak Sagar with 27 mm, Middle Vaitarna with 16 mm, Tulsi with 8 mm and Vihar with 2 mm.

Upper Vaitarna was the only lake to witness an increase in water level, rising by 0.09 metres to 602.02 metres. Modak Sagar’s water level remained unchanged, while other reservoirs recorded minor declines.

The combined live storage of Upper Vaitarna, Tansa and Middle Vaitarna stood at 6,20,616 ML, accounting for 89.35 per cent of their total useful storage capacity of 6,94,582 ML.

The BMC said the Middle Vaitarna WSCPO gate has remained closed since July 6, while water discharge from Upper Vaitarna was stopped on the same day.

The civic body also reported that Vihar Lake began overflowing on July 7, followed by Tulsi Lake later the same day. Tansa Dam started overflowing on July 22, while Modak Sagar Dam began overflowing on July 23.

Meanwhile, the Bhandup Complex recorded 8 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending Wednesday morning, taking the seasonal rainfall total at the facility to 2,269 mm.