Powai Lake Mumbai began in 1891 when two dams were built on the Mithi River. British authorities created Lake Powai in 1891 by building two dams on the Mithi River to supply water to Mumbai.
Today, the water from Powai Lake in Mumbai is used for horticulture and various industrial purposes. Locals love Lake Powai as a place to spend a pleasant evening by the water and in the nearby garden.
Powai Lake is an artificial lake located in the Powai Valley in Mumbai, where a Powai village has a group of huts. Yes, Lake Powai in Mumbai is an artificial lake built by the British to supply water.
The lake provided Mumbai with 2 million gallons of water when it was made. A few years after Mumbai’s Lake Powai was launched, the water was declared unsafe.
Over the years, several projects and quality checks have been carried out to test the purity of the water in the lake. However, it was later decided that the water, once sent to different areas of Mumbai for consumption, is no longer drinkable.
The Government of Maharashtra reports that due to eutrophication of the lake water, untreated sewage, and waste from nearby residential settlements and slums, the water in the lake is unusable as drinking water.
Water from the lake is used for non-drinking purposes, i.e., horticulture and industry. This immediately led to the lake being used for fishing and recreation.
Powai Lake In Mumbai
The lake’s water depth has been reported to have decreased to a minimum of 0.33 meters (1.1 ft) in some places due to a large influx of sewage, domestic sewage, and silt from surrounding residential and industrial areas.
The lake’s catchment area is about 600 ha, and the water dispersal area at the whole level is 220 ha. Water from the lake is also supplied to the colony of Aari and Larsen, and Tubro for non-domestic needs.
The lake drains a 6.61 km2 basin (part of the Powai-Kanheri mountain ranges, which also drain into neighboring Vihar and Tulsi lakes).
The lake is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Mumbai city center by road and can be reached via Kurla or Santa Cruz and Andheri.
The lake was designed to deal with water scarcity in the southeastern part of Lake Vihar, a more enormous lake, while also supplying water to Mumbai.
The original plan was to increase the water supply to Mumbai by building two 10-meter dams to store rainwater from the lower slopes of the Western Ghats and streams from the eastern, northeastern slopes.
History Of The Lake
In 1889, it was decided to dam a tributary of the Mithi River form a reservoir and larger Lake Vihar downstream of the river.
A stream tributary of the Mithi River that served a suburb of the city called the village of Powai was dammed in 1891, during the British period.
After supplying potable water was abandoned in the early 1890s due to poor water quality, pollution, water hyacinth and weeds, new sewage treatment, and large silt deposits, the lake was leased to the West India Fisheries Association.
When it was built, the area of the lake was approximately 2.1 square kilometers (520 acres). The depth ranged from about 3 meters (9.8 ft) (at the edges of the lake) to 12 meters (39 ft) deep. Point Deeper.
During the construction of Lake Powai in Mumbai, the depth ranged from 3 meters at its periphery to 12 meters at its deepest point.
When Powai Lake was built, its area was more than 2.1 square kilometers, and the water depth ranged from three meters near the shores to 12 meters at its deepest point. Scroll down for more exciting information about Lake Powai.
The Powai Valley was initially the Powai Valley which included the central village and small groups of huts surrounding it is the main town.
The charming city of Hiranandani on one side, the luxurious Renaissance Hotel on the other, and the sprawling IIT Mumbai, on the other side, Powai Lake is so loved in Mumbai.
A project called Powai Lake Revival (courtesy of IIT Mumbai in 1980) was initiated to restore the natural beauty of Powai Lake using environmentally sound measures.
Realizing the problem of siltation, water hyacinth growth, weeds, eutrophication of the lake, the Bombay IIT Class of 1980 launched the “Powai Lake Revival.” So to restore the lake to its original pristine through ecological design and materials for restoration work.
In 1995, the National Lakes Conservation Plan (NLCP) of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoE&F;) of the Government of India reviewed the state of the lake. It included it in its list of the country’s top ten lakes for revitalization and improvement.
A Mumbai-based environmental group wrote to authorities on Monday strongly opposing herbicides to kill water hyacinths on Lake Powai. Satellite imagery and ground-based observations by conservationists and citizens indicate that the water hyacinth problem in Lake Powai is rapidly deteriorating with much of the water.
It spread now, being taken up by water hyacinth growth. Lake water that supplied Mumbai with drinking water was declared undrinkable.
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Written by Sumit Tripathi. A Content Writer who loves to write about different topics. I like to share my knowledge with others. Connect with me on Linkedin.
FAQs
- Is Powai lake clean?
The Powai lake hasn’t been cleaned for over a year, is a prime water body in the city and a popular tourist destination. In March 2019, the BMC had floated tenders to appoint a cleaning contractor for five years. - Is Powai Lake artificial?
Powai Lake is an artificial lake situated in the northern suburb of Mumbai. The lake was created in 1891 by constructing a dam between two hillocks across the Mithi River. The lake has deteriorated due to the accelerated growth of the residential, commercial, and industrial areas. - Does Powai Lake have crocodiles?
Crocodile populations in Powai Lake are also allegedly in decline. An honorary wildlife warden with the forest department said, “Sightings of crocodiles in Powai lake were far more frequent around 10-15 years ago. - Who made Powai Lake?
Yes, it is a man-made lake built by the British to supply water to Mumbai. Powai Lake’s story began in 1891 when two dams were built on the Mithi River. The lake formed as a result of those two dams. - Which lake in India has crocodiles?
Pollution in the water and poaching of fishes are among many factors affecting the crocodile population. Despite its location in the bustling heart of the central suburbs of Mumbai, the Powai lake has for several years been home to a large number of crocodiles.