Thane district’s Bhatsa dam has 99.5% useful water content

Water shortage is unlikely to be an issue going forward atleast for a few months. The seven lakes, namely, Tulsi, Vihar, Bhatsa, Tansa, Middle Vaitrana, Upper Vaitarna and Modak Sagar, that provide water to Mumbai city are now 99.2% full. In 2020, these lakes were 98.2% full and in 2019, they were 97.8% full. This indicates that
the lakes have seen a 1% and 1.4% points increase in water levels from their 2020 and 2019 levels respectively. Water reserves near-full capacity means there will be sufficient quantities to meet the city’s water requirements throughout the year and residents are unlikely to face any water crisis.

Mumbai city that receives its drinking water supply from the aforementioned seven lakes have a total water capacity of 1,447,363 Million Litres (M Litres). They are located in Mumbai, and the neighbouring Thane and Palghar districts. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) supplies 3,850 M Litres of water to Mumbai per day. The seven lakes are bifurcated into two systems- the Vaitarna system supplies water to the western suburbs and the Island city, and the Bhatsa system that provides water to the eastern suburbs.

Four out of the seven lakes, namely, Tulsi, Vihar, Tansa, and Modak Sagar have already overflown once this monsoon, in July. On September 13, BMC began to release water from Upper Vaitarna also, which currently has 99.3% water, as per BMC data. Water-level in Tulsi and Vihar lakes is full at 100%, while it is almost full at 99.14% for Tansa and 99.9% for Modak Sagar.

Bhatsa dam in Thane district has 99.5% useful water content. Of its total capacity of 717,037 M Litre, 575,700 M Litre are allotted to Mumbai for use, and comprise over 40% of the annual water requirement of the city. Middle Vaitarna has 97.44% useful water content.