Pune: Dams have over 50% water stock, 16% more than last year
As the long summer season takes off, the dams in Pune region, including five major dams that provide water to Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad, are over 50 per cent full. This is a significant improvement compared to the amount of water they had at this time last year: 34.27 per cent. Last year,the dropping water levels had forced authorities to implement water cuts in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
In three of the five dams that supply water to Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad — Panshet, Varasgaon and Pavana — the stock of water is either more or close to what was available last year in April.
But in one of them. Khadakwasla, the stock is only 59 per cent, and the water level is depleting fast. In 2017, it had 91.81 per cent water stock for consumption, even in the summer month of April.
On Sunday, water quantity in Varasgaon was 363.13 million cubic metres (MCUM) followed by Panshet (301.61 MCUM) and Pavana (240.97 MCUM) and Khadakwasla (55.91 MCUM).
Temghar dam, which was under repair till December 2017, didn’t supply any water last year.
District Guardian Minister Girish Bapat recently held a meeting with officials of the irrigation department and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), during which he assured that the dams had sufficient water. But he had cautioned that the water needed to be used judiciously. “There is sufficient water in the dams but it needs to be used carefully… we must collectively take steps to make it last till the beginning of the monsoon,” Bapat had said.
The minister even suggested that PMC chalk out a plan to reduce the daily water usage from 1,600 million litres per day (MLD) to 1,350 MLD.
“We need to take precautions to delay or avoid water cuts. If the usage of water is not kept in check, we will be forced to introduce water cuts this summer as well,” the minister had warned.
Among the six regions in Maharashtra, Pune, with 50.57 per cent water stock, has the highest water stock after Konkan, which has 2.95 per cent. With just only 17.97 per cent water stock, Amravati fared the worse in the state.
Source : Indian Express
