Tightening the tap: Water supply to pools, construction sites halted in Mumbai

Currently, the city is reeling under a 10 per cent water cut imposed across establishments in Mumbai. The curbs were announced after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast below-normal monsoon rainfall due to El Niño, a climate phenomenon marked by warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

However, the delayed onset of the monsoon and prevailing hot weather have raised concerns over diminishing lake levels. On Tuesday, the total stock in the seven lakes stood at 1.49 lakh million litres, or 10.35 per cent of total capacity. In the absence of pre-monsoon showers and with above-normal temperatures, lake water is evaporating faster. Records show that lake levels dropped by five percentage points within a fortnight, from 15.30 per cent on June 2.

By contrast, lake levels had fallen by four percentage points over a fortnight during the corresponding period last year, while in 2024 the decline was only two percent over two weeks.

Further concern stems from the IMD’s revised forecast, which points to rainfall at only 90 per cent of the long-period average this season.
“With the monsoon delayed and the IMD forecasting a weak monsoon due to El Niño, stretching the current water supply for as many days as possible is a major challenge before us,” the BMC said.

Concerned over current stocks in the city’s potable water-supplying lakes, the BMC on Tuesday stepped up restrictions on water use across sectors.

In a circular, the civic body directed organisations responsible for maintaining toilets and restrooms to maximise the use of tanker and borewell water to conserve potable water supplies.

“Specifically, borewell or well water must be utilised for washing vehicles, watering plants in gardens and cleaning roads and premises,” the BMC said in its notice, while also suspending water supply to aerated water and packaged water bottling plants.

Furthermore, the BMC directed establishments with high footfall, including Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited, Western Railway, Central Railway, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, the Navy, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and the Bombay Port Trust, to use recycled water from sewage treatment plants for secondary purposes.

“Strict legal action will be taken against anyone found misusing the drinking water supplied by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation at any location,” officials added.

The civic administration supplies an average of 4,000 million litres of water per day to the city. The water is drawn from seven lakes — Tulsi, Vihar, Tansa, Middle Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa and Modak Sagar — located on the periphery of Mumbai district.