In what will bring relief to Mumbai citizens, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) withdrew its 20-per cent water cut on Wednesday, citing a good spell of rain this monsoon.
In what will bring relief to Mumbai citizens, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) withdrew its 20-per cent water cut on Wednesday, citing a good spell of rain this monsoon. The BMC announced that the city’s lakes have 33 per cent more water this year after the catchment area received heavy rainfall in July.
On behalf of the BMC administration, additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee presented the proposal to revoke the water cut before the standing committee on Wednesday. The administration explained that the water cut could have been revoked earlier in July. However, even though the Met department had predicted good rainfall this monsoon, the month of June saw an addition of 50-per cent rainfall in Tansa, Modak Sagar and Bhatsa, and an additional 25-per cent rainfall in the region of upper and middle Vaitarna. This would have proved insufficient to withdraw the water cut.
Mukherjee said: “We have seen good rainfall in July. We now have 33 per cent more water than required. As of Wednesday, the water cut on all domestic, industrial and commercial set-ups stands revoked.”
As of Wednesday, about 7,93,050 million litres (ML) of water is available in Mumbai’s lakes, which will be sufficient for the city for 167 days. The city requires a supply of 3,750 ML of water per day without the water cut.
Mukherjee said: “When all the lakes are full to capacity, they are able to hold 14,47,363 ML of water. At present, we have water up to 54 per cent of the lake capacity. If the same trajectory of rainfall continues, considering the amount of rainfall we have received in July, we will have enough water to suffice through the year.”
The BMC had introduced a 20-per cent water cut on all domestic set-ups and 50-per cent water cut on all industrial and commercial set-ups on October 1 last year.
