Mumbai water reserves plunge to 7% amid monsoon, city imposes tighter cuts

The combined storage in Mumbai’s seven key reservoirs – Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Tansa, Tulsi, Modak Sagar and Vihar – has fallen to roughly 7.3 percent of total capacity despite the arrival of the southwest monsoon. In the past 24 hours the water stock dropped by 0.22 percentage points, leaving only about 1.05 million cubic metres of usable water.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had already ordered a citywide 10 percent cut, but it has now tightened measures. Supply to construction sites and swimming pools has been halted, and industrial, commercial and high‑consumption users such as sports clubs have been instructed to curtail water use by around 20 percent. Officials warned that without substantial rainfall over the reservoir catchment areas, further restrictions may become necessary to meet the city’s daily demand of roughly 3,900 million litres.

Rainfall in the catchment zones has been far below normal, with only modest amounts recorded at Tulsi, Modak Sagar, Tansa and Vihar. The BMC continues to monitor the situation closely, urging residents to use water sparingly until reservoir levels show a meaningful increase.