Mumbai Rains Start, But Lakes Are at 8.34% Capacity: Will Your Society Face Water Cuts This Week?

Monsoons in Mumbai have returned, and so has the long-awaited water! With this year’s unending heat and the depletion of water reserves, finally, nature has come through with the necessary monsoonal rainfall. However, even with monsoons having begun, the total storage capacity of Mumbai’s seven lakes (which provide drinking water to millions of citizens) are currently at only 8.34% of total capacity.

Because of this, many housing societies and apartments are concerned about whether water cuts will be made in the near future.

Why Lake Levels Matter?

Reservoirs such as Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Tulsi, and Vihar are critical for Mumbai’s water supplies. The filling and storing of water in lake reservoirs primarily occurs during the rainy season; the summer months generally see a significant depletion of overall reservoir capacity at the end of the summer period. While rain has begun to occur again in Mumbai, it will take an additional amount of steady and widespread rainfall to substantially boost current water reservoirs.

Should Residents Expect Water Cuts?

Should we experience erratic rainfall patterns or rain amounts that are below expectations over a period of time, we can anticipate housing societies implementing temporary water conservation measures, including :

• Reduced schedules for the supply of water
• Restrictions on washing cars
• Restrictions on gardening/landscaping work
• Increased use of tanker delivery services to supply residential drinking water.

What Housing Societies Can Do Now

Citizens can actively work to conserve water by: 

• Repairing any leaking faucets or pipes in their homes or other buildings 
• Not using excessive amounts of water 
• Reusing available water whenever possible 
• Keeping an eye on the levels of their storage tanks.

Final Words

Although the rainy season has started, Mumbai has just 8.34% of its lakes filled with water, which is quite low. If water cuts are to be imposed this week will depend on how fast the reservoirs fill again due to rainfall over the next few days.

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