Water cuts to continue in Mumbai despite heavy rains

Over the last 48 hours, the city has received enough rainfall to bring its infrastructure to a grinding halt. But despite the heavy rainfall, the civic body is likely to continue the water cuts throughout the city in the near future.

Since the onset of monsoon, the civic body has received a flurry of complaints ranging from fallen trees to open manholes. In the last two days alone, four residents from the city fell victim to open manholes, of which two lost their lives.

The monsoon even brought city’s lifeline to a halt. Both Western and Central railway lines were affected by the rains with commuters experiencing an average delay of 15 and 30 minutes respectively.

Apart from these, the civic body also evacuated dozens of citizens from central Mumbai. Multiple flooding and tree-fall complaints were also registered.

However, BMC officials are seemingly worried as the showers haven’t contributed enough water to the catchment area of the seven lakes that provide water to the city. By this time, the city’s lakes had around 30,000 crore litres of water last year.

But, due to the delay in rains, the current water level is less than 10,000 crore litres.

As a result, BMC officials have confirmed that the 20 percent water cut imposed since August last year will continue till the city’s lakes reach an adequate water level. It is estimated that a heavy rainfall over a 5-7 day period will be required to meet the requirement.