Heavy rain over the past few days has pushed the combined water stock in Mumbai’s reservoirs beyond 10 lakh million litres, taking the overall storage to nearly 70% of total capacity.
Despite the improvement, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided not to withdraw the water restrictions for now.
The 20% water cut was introduced after reservoir levels dropped below the critical mark earlier this year. The civic body also suspended the supply of water for construction activities and swimming pools to conserve available resources.
Many residents had expected the restrictions to be lifted by the end of July as water levels recovered. However, BMC officials said the decision will only be reviewed after all the city’s reservoirs are filled.
Officials explained that maintaining adequate water storage until September is essential to avoid shortages during the next summer. Lifting the restrictions too early could create problems if rainfall decreases in the coming weeks.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar also confirmed that the water cut will remain in force until the reservoirs reach safe storage levels.
Meanwhile, the Bhatsa Lake, which supplies water to nearly half of Mumbai’s population, has reached around 65% of its total storage capacity. The reservoir currently holds approximately 466,000 million litres of water.
The city’s water reserves have also received a boost as Modak Sagar began overflowing early Thursday morning after continuous rainfall. The reservoir supplies around 450 million litres of water to Mumbai every day.
Earlier this week, Vihar, Tulsi, and Tansa lakes also started overflowing, indicating a steady improvement in the city’s overall water reserves.
For now, however, Mumbai residents will have to continue with water conservation measures until the remaining reservoirs are completely filled.
read more at mumbaipune.co.in
