Mumbai: Tulsi lake overflows after a day of heavy rainfall

Tulsi Lake, built in 1879 at Rs 40 lakh, is the smallest of the lakes that provide water to Mumbai. The lake has a useful water storage capacity of 804.6 crore litres

Tulsi Lake, one of two lakes that supplies water to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) area, began overflowing at 8:30 am today. This is a replay of last year's occurrence, when the lake began overflowing on July 20, 2023, at 1:28 pm, said the civic agency in a communique.

Tulsi Lake, built in 1879 at Rs 40 lakh, is the smallest of the lakes that provide water to Mumbai. The lake has a useful water storage capacity of 804.6 crore litres (8046 million litres) and provides an average of 18 million litres (1.8 crore litres) of water each day. The lake is roughly 35 km from the BMC headquarters.

"The 'Tulsi Lake' of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, one of the two lakes that supply water to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area and are located within the BMC area, has started overflowing at 8:30 am today, July 20, 2024. Last year also, on July 20, 2023, itself, the lake had started overflowing at around 1.28 pm," BMC said in its statement. 

Tulsi River overflowed at 8:30 am today.#TulsiRiver #Overflow #HeavyRain #WeatherUpdate #Mumbai #Rains

via: @PrajaktaKasale pic.twitter.com/yobqm3I39B

— Mid Day (@mid_day) July 20, 2024

The Municipal Corporation's Water Engineer Department attributed the overflow to the lake's catchment area receiving constant rainfall during the last four days. The lake has a catchment area of 6.76 sq km and approximately 1.35 square km of water when full. The excess water from Tulsi Lake drains into Vihar Lake. In recent years, Tulsi Lake overflowed on July 16, 2022 and 2021, and July 27, 2020.

The civic agency said, "The lake, which has a useful water storage capacity of 804.6 crore litres i.e. 8046 million litres, started overflowing on July 16 in the year 2022 and 2021. The previous year, on July 27, 2020, the Tulsi lake had started overflowing."

"Tulsi Lake is the smallest of the lakes that supply water to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, supplying an average of 18 million litres (1.8 crore litres) per day. According to the Water Engineer Department of the Municipal Corporation, the lake has been overflowing due to rain in the catchment area of the lake for the last few days," the communique added. 

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!