Mumbai water level drops below 50%, BMC fears disruption to city’s water supply

With the water level in Mumbai falling below 50%, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has warned that water supply will be cut off from the end of this month. Due to water shortage, the BMC’s water engineering department has asked Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna to provide additional reserve water.

The department has filed a request for additional 1.37 lakh liters from Bhatsa and 93.5 lakh liters from Upper Vaitarna.

The city draws water from seven lakes; the water level on Tuesday was 49.37%, or nearly 710,000 liters. This is the lowest water level in the city in nearly three years.

If the irrigation department does not approve a request for additional water reserves, city officials will cut water use by 10% by the end of February.

P Malwade, Municipal Water Conservancy Engineer informed times of india They have written to the irrigation department to approve additional reserve stocks for February. Last year, the letter was sent in March, causing delays. “It will be a close situation, so water cuts will have to be implemented,” another engineer told the British daily on condition of anonymity.

As of February 13, 2023, the total water stock was 790,000 liters, or 55%; on the same day in 2022, the figure was close to 830,000 liters, or 57%.

Interviewed by P Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) indian express He said the city was grappling with low water levels due to low rainfall during the monsoon in September and October. He added that after the delayed arrival of the monsoon last year, the city evacuated early, four days ahead of the official time.

Last month, Navi Mumbai suffered a 12-hour water outage for two consecutive days due to impending maintenance and repair work on supply lines by CIDCO.

Water supply to Dronagiri, JNPT, Ulwe, Kharghar and Taloja nodes of Navi Mumbai and villages on Hetawane water supply line will remain closed from 9 am on Friday, January 5 to 9 am on Saturday, January 6.