Mumbai: Vihar and Tansa lakes overflow after heavy rains

Mumbai: In the wake of heavy rains over the last few days, the Tansa and Vihar lakes, the key sources of potable water for Mumbai, started overflowing on Wednesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

Out of the seven reservoirs that supply water to Mumbai, the Vihar, Tansa and Tulsi lakes have overflown so far.

The Vihar lake, located in Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park, overflowed at 12.48 am, while the Tansa lake, located in neighbouring Thane district, overflowed at 4.35 am on Wednesday, the BMC said.

"Tansa lake, among the 7 lakes that supply water to Mumbaikars, has started overflowing today (July 26, 2023) at 4:35 AM," the civic body tweeted.

The Tulsi lake overflowed on July 20 following heavy rains in the city and suburbs.

Mumbai receives 3,800 MLD (millions of litres per day) water from the seven reservoirs - Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vihar and Tulsi, located in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik districts.

Notably, the BMC imposed a 10 per cent water cut here from July 1, after the level of lakes supplying water to Mumbai went down due to inadequate rainfall at that time in their catchment areas.

The Powai lake in Mumbai also started overflowing earlier this month, but its water is not used for drinking purpose, BMC officials said.

Consequent upon the Tansa lake overflowing, a discharge of 1,100 cusecs (cubic foot per second) of water has been started from the reservoir, said a release by Thane district authorities.

It said the water storage in Vihar and Tulsi lakes was 100 per cent, while it was 99.91 per cent in Tansa, 87.69 per cent in Modak Sagar and 67.95 per cent in the Middle Vaitarna reservoir.

In the Barvi dam in Thane district, the water storage was 80.76 per cent, while in the Bhatsa dam it was 61.72 per cent, the release said.

In Palghar district, the water storage in Dhamni dam was 92.35 per cent, and 100 per cent in Kavdas and Wandri reservoirs.

Besides, the water storage in the Upper Vaitarna reservoir in Nashik was 52.14 per cent, the release said.