Mumbai:
Water supply to the maximum city may well be hit if the rain gods do not relent soon enough. Reservoirs that supply water to Mumbai throughout the year have not seen a rise in water levels due to poor rainfall.
The Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarana and Modak Sagar reservoirs supply 3400 million litres to quench Mumbai's thirst. Of these, the Bhatsa supplies 60% of water that Mumbai consumes but this year it presents a bleak picture as the water levels are low. When NDTV visited the Bhatsa dam to check water levels, a local resident familiar with water levels in the dam said, "By this time the reservoir is full but there is no monsoon this year."
Bhatsa Dam has recorded only 893 milimetres of rain so far.
At the Vaitarana River which flows from Nasik to Mumbai the same story unfolds. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has stopped supplying water from the Vaitarana dam from 14th July. With only 772 milimetres of recorded rainfall locals here say water levels have not risen at all. Here too, the locals don't need any scientific techniques to establish the amount of rain received. " If rain comes then water level rises till that stone," says a local pointing towards a rock at the banks of the reservoir. "Everything is dependent on rain. The dam is not full yet. Every year dam overflows in the month of July," they added
Last year by this time the dam had 6 lakh 15 thousand million litres of water. This year there is only 3 lakh 90 thousand million litres of water.
Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu says the water situation is worrisome. Even Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan reiterated, "There have been rapid changes in the rain patterns. After the rains are over, keeping in mind the amount of rain received, wherever there has been less rain, we have to find ways to help those people. Like arranging for drinking water and arranging for tankers."
Mumbai requires 13 million litres of water every year. The bigger worry is that only 124 days of water is left in the six reservoirs.
The water situation this year is a reminder of 2009 when the city bore the brunt of 30% water cuts. If the rains are poor this time Mumbai may return to similar water cuts again.