Mumbai’s water storage falls below 7 per cent, raising fresh supply concerns

Mumbai's seven water reservoirs have dropped to less than seven per cent live storage due to delayed monsoon and inadequate rainfall. The BMC has intensified water conservation measures and enforced supply cuts as concerns over the city's drinking water availability grow

Mumbai: Mumbai is staring at a severe water crisis as the combined live storage in its seven supply reservoirs has dropped to less than 7 per cent, significantly lower than last year, due to delayed monsoon and insufficient rainfall so far this year.

In the corresponding period last year, the water stock in these seven dams was 39.5 per cent. As per the data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Hydraulic Engineer’s Department, the seven reservoirs together held 1,00,279 million litres of water, or 6.93 per cent of their total live storage capacity, at 6 am (on Monday), compared with 5,71,670 million litres (39.5 per cent) on the corresponding day last year.

---

Seven reservoirs — Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa, Middle Vaitarna, Tulsi, and Vihar — make up the entire seven-lake system that supplies drinking water to the financial capital of the country and its metropolitan areas. They have a combined useful storage capacity of 14.47 lakh million litres and supply around 4,000 million litres of potable water daily to Mumbai. Four major reservoirs — Upper Vaitarna, Modak Sagar, Tansa and Middle Vaitarna — together contained 46,192 million litres of water, accounting for 6.65 per cent of their combined live storage capacity, as per the data.

Among these, Vihar had the highest storage at 45.13 per cent of its live capacity, followed by Tulsi (24.26 per cent) and Modak Sagar (18.47 per cent), according to the data.

Upper Vaitarna continued to remain below its Lower Drawdown Level (LDL), with its useful live storage recorded as zero. However, 11,974 million litres of water below the LDL was being utilised, it said.

During the 24-hour period ending at 6 am, Tulsi received 179 mm of rainfall, Vihar 112 mm and Modak Sagar 38 mm, while the Bhandup Complex recorded 191 mm of rainfall.

On June 17, the water stock in the seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to Mumbai stood at 1,44,918 million litres or 10.01 per cent of their total useful storage capacity.

Concerns have been raised over the city’s water supply due to the delayed southwest monsoon and forecasts indicating the possible development of strong El Nino conditions later this year. However, the reservoirs currently hold more water than they did during the corresponding period in 2024 when it stood at 5.43 per cent on this day.

Monsoon generally reaches Mumbai around June 10, but its onset has been delayed this year. Last year, the monsoon arrived in the city in May, well ahead of its normal onset date.

The delayed arrival and slow progress of the monsoon have prompted the BMC to closely monitor reservoir levels and implement water conservation measures.

Following directives from the Maharashtra government’s Water Resources Department, the BMC has begun implementing austerity measures for drinking water management. Consequently, the hydraulic engineer’s department issued a detailed circular earlier this month outlining the steps to be taken during the water-cut period.

The civic body had already imposed a 10 per cent water cut in Mumbai from May 15. It, however, implemented a 20 per cent water cut for industrial and commercial establishments starting June 17.