Water shortage in Mumbai is about to turn worse. Following the poor rainfall in Maharashtra, the state government has decided to cut down annual supply of water to the city from two dams, Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna. It has also turned down a BMC demand to draw an additional 100 million litres a day (mld) from Bhatsa dam.

Six lakes supply water to Mumbai city, Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tulsi and Vihar. The city gets 2,100 mld from Bhatsa and 554 mld from Upper Vaitarna, the share set by the state government.

In the current scenario, Bhatsa will soon supply about 1900 mld — 300 mld less— while Upper Vaitarna will provide 20 to 30 mld less, which will restrict total supply to Mumbai from the dam to 520 mld.

This means Mumbai, which is already facing a water deficit, will soon be supplied 320-330 mld less every day. Mumbai now gets 3,400 MLD while the demand is 4,250 million litres per day. A huge amount of water is lost through leakages and illegal connections.

In a recent meeting, the irrigation department informed the BMC of the decision to cut down water supply.

“Since rainfall has been low across the state, the irrigation department decided to cut down supply to Mumbai. Apart from Mumbai, dam water is also supplied to Thane city and to farms in Nashik and Thane regions. The state has to adjust available water for these also,” said deputy municipal commission, water supply, Pramod Charankar.

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