Mumbai water situation is honestly starting to look worrying now . Upper Vaitarna dam reaching critical zero level is not small thing ah,especially when whole city depends on these reservoirs through summer and delayed monsoon period.
Starting June 22,Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will begin using state-allocated water stock of 90,000 million litres (ML) to meet Mumbai’s demand . That itself shows how tight situation has become.
As of June 20,total storage across seven dams supplying water to Mumbai has dropped to 8.68% . Same day last year,it was 25.87% . That difference is huge and you can feel why BMC is getting nervous now .
And Bhatsa,the largest dam,is also not in good shape . It currently holds just 7.99% of its capacity . When biggest source itself is this low,water cut discussions become unavoidable only.
Few things standing out clearly in this crisis:
- BMC may increase current 10% water cut to between 15%-20% till mid-August .
- State allocation of 1.47 lakh ML from Bhatsa dam will be used when it hits zero level .
- IMD has predicted improved rainfall after June 24.
The reason behind this mess is delayed monsoon and weak premonsoon rainfall . Reservoirs did not get enough inflow,so water levels kept falling fast . And tbh,for city like Mumbai,this kind of dependency on timely rain always feels risky.
BMC has already restricted water use for construction activities and swimming pools to save whatever stock is left . Drinking water supply is being prioritised,which makes sense,but daily life will still get affected if cuts go up .
But there is also El Nino factor hanging over this whole monsoon . Reports say it may lead to below-average rainfall this season,though India Meteorological Department (IMD) has indicated chances of better rain in coming days.
So now Mumbai is basically waiting for clouds to do their job . BMC can manage distribution,control usage and use allocated stock,but if rains don’t properly arrive after June 24,then what happens by mid-August…
