To meet the city's escalating need for water in the wake of rapid urbanisation, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has shifted its focus to groundwater and has planned initiatives to increase groundwater levels. “The pressure on basic facilities that the civic body provides to citizens is increasing, as the city is expanding in all directions. For adequate water supply, sustainable use of water is a crucial,” said Mangesh Dighe, PMC Environment cell. Among the various water sources in the city, groundwater is one of the important sources and so it needs to be protected, he said. “In an initiative to conserve ground water, PMC will take certain initiatives at ponds in Harantale, Uruli Devachi, Dhayari and Uttam Nagar to increase ground water in those areas. This work will be taken up under the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA),” he added. According to the Environment Status Report (ESR) for 2022-23, groundwater is presently drawn through borewells at several places to meet the needs for residential, commercial properties. The PMC too has realised the need to keep a check on use of groundwater. The civic body is propagating environment friendly measures to be undertaken at construction sites, by mandating water conservation and rain water harvesting. Water needs can be met only by sustainable use of water, and conserving groundwater reserves. Dighe said, "PMC, with the help of experts in the field, has set up a dedicated ground water cell to work towards ground water conservation. The cell will focus on identifying groundwater reserves, protecting the source and reserve of groundwater, collecting information on the quantity of water drawn through borewells and preventing pollution of groundwater.” The civic body is also giving a discount on properties that implement rainwater harvesting projects, he said. PMC recently demanded that the state government allocate 20.9 TMC water from dams for the city considering its increasing population and area. However, state water resources department has opposed the demand, citing the need to divert water from the dam for agriculture and industrial purposes.
