The well is all that matters to the 1,000-odd residents of Pawarwadi, a hamlet in Purandar, 35 kms from Pune. Once a day a tanker fills its empty bottom, triggering off a scramble.Things used to be different. Today, 25-year old Manisha Pawar who fills up six cans, each of 25 litres capacity, in quick time for her six-member family. They will last two days.‘‘It’s been like this for four years now. There’s not a moment we aren’t thinking about water. Sometimes the tanker comes at midnight. We have to be prepared to rush to the well any time of the day,’’ says her husband Hanumant.Somedays the tanker doesn’t arrive at all.It’s the first face of a drought searing through Pune. The district administration has employed 269 tankers to supply water to Purandar, Baramati, Indapur, Daund and Shirur talukas daily. Seventy-five alone have been assigned to Purandar.The average rainfall for the district is estimated at 834 mm. Last year, it received only 574 mm. While the Khadakwalsa dam takes care of water supply to Indapur, Daund, Baramati, Shirur relies on the Kukadi and Chaskaman dams. Purandar, meanwhile, has to wait for the benevolence of the Rain God.South of the district at Dive, again Purandar taluka, 1,035 cattle have taken refuge at a cattle camp. At last count the camps have come to the rescue of 31,700 cattle at Rs 4.07 crore. Says sarpanch Masku Jhende, ‘‘For many of the cattle-owners it’s tough getting by. Farming was a major source of income.’’The roster for Rojar Hami Yojna would earlier register about 100 people willing to take up some form of manual labour in exchange for Rs 45-55 a day. Today the figure stands at 61,000 a day. Of this 17,269 come from Purandar alone.These dry times have also been the strictest lessons in economy. ‘‘I use the water I bathe with to wash my clothes,’’ says Kailash Kade who’s tending to his cattle at the Dive camp.
