Mumbai Lake Water Levels Powai Overflows Monsoon

After weeks of plummeting water levels, the total stock in the seven lakes supplying Mumbai’s water finally recorded a marginal jump Wednesday, following a torrential downpour across the region. Spurred by continuous rain, Powai Lake, an artificial reservoir primarily used for industrial purposes, filled to capacity and began overflowing early in the morning.

Mumbai draws its daily potable water supply from seven key lakes: Tulsi, Tansa, Vehar, Modak Sagar, Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, and Middle Vaitarna. Together, they have a cumulative holding capacity of 14.47 lakh million litres. Due to a delayed monsoon and a lack of pre-monsoon showers, lake levels had dipped so significantly that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was forced to implement a citywide 10 per cent water cut, along with a 20 per cent reduction for commercial and sports complexes.

Despite steady spells of rain since the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the onset of the southwest monsoon in Mumbai, water levels had continued to deplete daily. Meteorologists attributed this downward trend to insufficient rainfall directly over the lakes’ catchment areas, five of which are situated deep inland and away from the coast.

The heavy spells on Tuesday finally moved the needle. While the total stock in the seven lakes had dipped to a critical 6.75 per cent of total capacity by Tuesday morning, it recovered marginally to 7.18 per cent, or 1.03 lakh million litres, by Wednesday morning.

Data from the BMC showed significant rainfall across the catchment areas between 6 am Tuesday and 6 am Wednesday. Tulsi Lake: 200 mm Modak Sagar: 193 mm Tansa: 180 mm Bhatsa: 120 mm Vehar: 83 mm Middle Vaitarna: 59 mm Upper Vaitarna: 11 mm

Due to the ongoing heavy rains, the water levels in Modak Sagar, Tansa, Middle Vaitarna, Vihar, and Tulsi lakes have risen by 1.72 metres. In contrast, Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa, two of the largest water-supply lakes, have experienced a decline in water levels.

At 5.30 am on Wednesday, Powai Lake was filled to the brim and began to overflow. Constructed in 1890, this is the city’s youngest lake and primarily serves to meet Mumbai’s industrial water demands. It has a total holding capacity of 545 crore litres.