June 21, 2025: On Friday morning, the cumulative water stock in the seven lakes that supply Mumbai’s drinking water rose to 3.64 lakh million litres (ML) — approximately 25% of their total capacity. The city received a significant boost in the past 24 hours alone, with 1.73 lakh ML added to the water reserves — enough to meet 44 days of supply.
Following this sharp increase, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has stopped drawing from the Upper Vaitarna reserve stock, which had been activated just last week due to critically low water levels.
At the beginning of the week, lake levels had dipped to just 8.60%, prompting the BMC to initiate reserve supply measures. However, intense rainfall in the catchment areas of Thane and Nashik brought dramatic improvement. In just five days, total stock jumped from 1,24,471 ML on Monday to 3,64,233 ML by Friday — a rise of 2,39,762 ML, nearly tripling the city’s available water reserves.
Among the seven key lakes, Tansa received the highest rainfall at 143 mm, followed closely by Bhatsa (141 mm), Modak Sagar (126 mm), Middle Vaitarna (121 mm), Upper Vaitarna (84 mm), Vihar (64 mm), and Tulsi (45 mm) — recorded between 6 a.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday.
This increase marks the highest water stock recorded in the past two years at this time of year and has brought temporary relief to Mumbai’s water supply situation. Civic officials remain cautious but optimistic that continued rainfall in July will replenish the lakes further, easing the threat of water cuts as the city moves deeper into the monsoon season.
Source: The Free Press Journal
