Mumbai: Upper Vaitarna still below half-way mark

Vihar lake began overflowing at around 3.50 am on July 25

Although four out of seven lakes have already overflowed, Upper Vaitarna, one of the largest lakes, remains below the halfway mark. Additionally, minimal rain has been reported in all seven lakes, leaving the combined water stock nearly unchanged over the past three days.

When the lake levels dropped below 7 per cent, the BMC began using reserve water from Upper Vaitarna and Bhatsa lakes in the first week of June, extracting 48,432 million litres from below the lowest drawable level (LDL).

The BMC ceased using this water once the rain began in the last week of June. It takes more than a week for the water level to rise to the LDL even after the rain commences.

Upper Vaitarna has a storage capacity of 2.27 lakh million litres above the LDL, and currently holds 1 lakh million litres of usable water, which is around 44 percent of its capacity.

The lake situated above Vaitarna is typically the last to fill each year. The total storage capacity of all the lakes is 14.47 lakh million litres of water.
Currently, the combined stock has reached 74 per cent, with Tulsi, Vihar, Tansa, and Modak Sagar lakes already full. Bhatsa and Middle Vaitarna are over 70 per cent of their capacity.

10,67,703
Current water stock in lakes