Times of India 23.07.2009

Rain takes catchment areas by storm, water cut is only 15%

MUMBAI: With water levels in the lakes rising sharply following heavy rains in the catchment areas over the last couple of days, the BMC has reduced the water cut in the city from 30% to 15% .

"There has been very heavy rainfall in the areas around the lakes that supply water to the city. The downpour over the last two days has led to the lake levels rising considerably,'' civic chief Jairaj Phatak said on Wednesday.

The civic body had initially imposed a 10% water cut on June 9 following a delay in the arrival of the monsoon. When rains continued to elude the city, it doubled the cut to 20% on June 20. The reduction was further increased to 30% on July 7 due to sparse rains in the catchment areas despite showers lashing the city.

"We had no option but to impose the cut then. But things are looking better now and we have reduced the cut,'' Phatak said.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, Modak Sagar received 103 mm of rain while Upper Vaitarna got 112 mm and Bhatsa got 71 mm. Tansa, Vihar and Tulsi recorded rainfall of 60 mm, 18 mm and 20 mm respectively.

On Tuesday, the lakes had a stock of 3,15,650 million litres (enough to last the city for 100 days). It increased to 3,72,140 million litres by Wednesday (enough to last 120 days). "One day's rainfall brought up the usable content by 20 days. But this is still worse than last year's figures when we had water to last us for 140 days, so we can't lift the cut totally. But as soon as the lakes start overflowing, we will restart full supply of water,'' Phatak said.