India, April 30 -- Shrinking reserves in Morbe dam and fears of a weaker monsoon under El Niño conditions have put Navi Mumbai on an early water alert, with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) urging residents to conserve immediately.

According to municipal commissioner Kailas Shinde, Morbe dam-the city's principal drinking water source owned by NMMC and supplemented by allocations from the Barvi system-has a total gross storage capacity of 190.890 million cubic metres (MCM) and currently holds 82.557 MCM, or 43.24% of capacity.

"After setting aside the mandatory one-month emergency reserve, the actual usable stock stands at 51.957 MCM, equivalent to 27.22% of total capacity," Shinde said. "At the present drawal rate, the ...