Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Jul 22: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday continued its orange alert for Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds, while persistent monsoon showers caused Tansa Lake to overflow, further strengthening the city's water reserves.
With Tansa joining Vihar and Tulsi, three of Mumbai's seven drinking water reservoirs are now overflowing. The combined water stock across all seven lakes has risen to nearly 62 per cent of their total storage capacity, offering significant relief to the city's water supply.
The IMD has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall across Mumbai, Thane and Raigad on Wednesday, along with wind speeds of 50 to 60 kmph, gusting up to 70 kmph.
Neighbouring Palghar remains under a red alert, with the weather department predicting extremely heavy rainfall at isolated locations and similarly strong winds.
The weather situation is expected to improve gradually from Thursday. Mumbai and Thane have been placed under a yellow alert for isolated heavy rainfall, while rainfall intensity is likely to reduce further from Friday, when light to moderate showers are expected across the region.
During the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, the IMD recorded 35.6 mm of rainfall at its Colaba observatory and 48.4 mm at Santacruz. Thane received 88.63 mm, while Navi Mumbai recorded an average rainfall of 61.17 mm.
Continuous rainfall over the reservoir catchment areas has led to a sharp increase in water levels. Tansa Lake began overflowing at 8.51 a.m. on Wednesday, becoming the third reservoir to spill over this monsoon after Vihar, which overflowed on the night of July 7, followed shortly by Tulsi.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Hydraulic Engineer's Department, the combined storage in Mumbai's seven lakes stood at 61.90 per cent of total capacity as of 6 a.m. on Wednesday.
Located in Shahapur taluka of Thane district, Tansa is one of India's oldest and largest masonry dams. Commissioned in 1892, the structure stretches 2,743.2 metres, making it one of the longest masonry dams in the world.
The reservoir has a maximum storage capacity of 145.08 billion litres and supplies around 455 million litres of water per day, accounting for nearly 11 per cent of Mumbai's daily drinking water requirement.
Tansa's overflow this year is broadly consistent with recent monsoon trends. The reservoir overflowed on July 23 last year, July 24 in 2024, July 26 in 2023, July 14 in 2022, July 22 in 2021, and August 20 in 2020, reflecting the seasonal rainfall pattern in the region.