The last time the city faced a situation similar to 2024 was in 2019
BMC has been fetching reserve stock of water from Bhatsa
This year, the lake water levels have got to the lowest in the last 10 years despite the use of reserved stock.
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If the civic corporation hadn’t used the reserved stock, the actual water levels would have gone below two per cent. The city faced a similar situation in 2019, but at the time, the lakes were not filled in the earlier monsoon season. On June 19, the combined stock in all seven lakes went down to merely five per cent. The city has faced water cuts in eight years in the past 10 years. But the water level was never this low.
File pic
The BMC has been fetching water from the reserved stock of Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna and has used up 49,609 million litres of it. The city faced a similar situation in 2019, when the water stock was below 6 per cent around June 19, due to a delay in the monsoon. Also, the lakes were not filled at the end of the monsoon season in 2018 and the stock was at 93 per cent on October 1. The BMC imposed a 10 per cent water cut till July 2019. But didn’t touch the reserve stock.
The city receives its water from seven lakes—Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Bhatsa, Tansa, Tulsi and Vihar—which have a collective storage capacity of 14.47 lakh million litres. If the lakes are full by October 1, the city, which uses approximately 10 per cent of the stock each month, will get uninterrupted supply till July.
The lakes were filled up to optimum level in the last monsoon and the lake levels were at 100 per cent on October 1, 2023. But the water levels went down drastically. The BMC imposed water cuts in the last week of May after voting for the Lok Sabha election concluded on May 20. The lowest level is likely the combined effect of the large evaporation rate, 30 per cent leakages, and delay in imposing water cuts. “The fact is that a 10 per cent water cut does not serve much purpose. A 10 per cent cut for a month saves water enough for three days. It is imposed to sensitise people about the water scarcity. With the support of reserved stock, the city will have enough water till July-end,” said a senior BMC official.
5.33 per cent
Water stock on June 19
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