Mumbai Water Storage Hits 95.89 Percent Across Seven Key Reservoirs
The seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to Mumbai reached 95.89 percent of their useful live storage capacity as of 6:00 AM on Saturday, September 5, according to data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Hydraulic Engineer’s Department. The milestone comes amid prevailing monsoon conditions characterized by generally cloudy skies and intermittent light rainfall across the city.
The combined useful water content across the seven key lakes stood at approximately 1,387,839 million litres. Civic officials noted that this extensive accumulation indicates strong water availability for the city following a wet monsoon season.
Among the individual water bodies, Vehar reservoir was completely full at 100 percent of its useful capacity. Modak Sagar recorded 98.47 percent capacity, while Tansa stood at 98.24 percent and Middle Vaitarna reached 97.08 percent. Tulsi lake stood at 96.79 percent, and Bhatsa, which serves as Mumbai's largest single water source, recorded 95.98 percent useful storage. Upper Vaitarna held 91.07 percent useful storage capacity.
The BMC report further noted that several of the reservoirs, specifically Vehar, Tulsi, Tansa, and Modak Sagar, had previously overflowed in July. Following those earlier inflows, water releases from Upper Vaitarna were subsequently halted, and the Middle Vaitarna WSPCO gate was closed in July.
Alongside the reservoir updates, civic authorities shared coastal tide forecasts for the next two days to help emergency teams and residents monitor conditions. A high tide of 3.12 metres was recorded for 5:11 PM on September 5, followed by a low tide of 1.36 metres scheduled for 12:10 AM on September 6. On Sunday, September 6, another high tide of 3.51 metres is expected at 7:55 AM, followed by an afternoon low tide of 2.35 metres at 1:55 PM.
The combination of continuous rainfall and high sea tides poses potential waterlogging challenges, particularly across low-lying areas of Mumbai. The civic body has urged citizens to track official weather and municipal updates, advising residents to contact the BMC disaster helpline at 1916 in the event of emergencies.
