Mumbai: Powai lake starts overflowing

Due to the continuous rains for the past few days, the Powai Lake in Mumbai started overflowing at 6 am on Wednesday. The water in this lake is mainly used for industrial purposes and other purposes other than drinking in the Aarey Dairy Colony. 

Powai Lake, famous for tourism, has started overflowing due to the cold spell. The lake started overflowing due to the rains in the catchment area of the lake in the last two days, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Water Engineering Department.

The current water level of the lake is 195.10 feet. The water in this lake, which has a water holding capacity of 545 crore liters, is not suitable for drinking and is used for industrial purposes. Powai Lake is an artificial lake and was built in 1890 at a cost of INR 12.59 lakh. 

The catchment area of this lake is about 6.61 square kilometers, and when the lake is fully filled, the water area is about 2.23 square kilometers.

Also Read: Attention Thanekars! Water cut on June 18-19

The lake's full-flow level is 195 feet. When the lake is full, it contains 545.5 crore liters (5,455 million liters) of water. Once this lake is fully filled, the water flows into the Mithi River. 

Meanwhile, the reservoirs supplying water to Mumbai have also started increasing. The water level, which was 8.60 percent on Monday, increased to 9.78 percent on Tuesday. While the water level was 10.19 percent on Wednesday morning. The decline in water level has brought relief to Mumbaikars and the BMC administration.

Although the rains came early this year, they were not heavy in the dam area. Although the water level in Vihar and Tulsi lakes within Mumbai's borders was rising, the water level in the dams supplying water to Mumbai was decreasing. However, due to the rains that have fallen in the last two days, the water levels of all seven dams have increased.

The seven dams that supply water to Mumbai - Upper Vaitarna, Modaksagar, Tansa, Madhya Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Vihar and Tulsi - have a combined water storage of 1,47,488 million liters, or 10.19 percent. The seven dams that supply water to Mumbai have a water storage capacity of 14.47 lakh million liters.