BMC conducts lake tapping at Modak Sagar

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) yesterday conducted lake tapping at Modak Sagar dam, becoming the first civic body in the country to embark upon such a project, that would give the citozens an additional stock of water for eight days a year.

The annual water (useful content) storage capacity of seven dams from where BMC supplies water to Mumbai is 14.47 lakh million litres and after lake-tapping, it would increase by 29,000 million litres (8 days' stock) available at the bottom of the Modak Sagar reservoir.

The additional water, available up to 4 metres below the upper layer of useful content, could be drawn in the event of a delayed monsoon or if it did not rain.

DNA newspaper had reported on 21 February that the corporation planned to perform lake-tapping in order to fetch additional water from Middle Vaitarna dam, the corporation's newest dam and proposed Gargai reservoir.

Water from Middle Vaitarna dam first flows to Modak Sagar, which is located at a lower altitude. Given the Middle Vaitarna dam had been filled for the first time this year, the civic body had additional water available.

To tap the resource, BMC had built an intake well in the vicinity of Modak Sagar dam. Water from the dam flows to the well through three tunnels, of which the last was completed by blasting the rock layer yesterday.