Water dips in dams; delay in rains akin to 1982

If rains continue to stay away from the catchment areas,the water for Pune city will last around 20 days.

If rains continue to stay away from the catchment areas,the water for Pune city will last around 20 days. The water storage in Panshet,Khadakwasla,Temghar and Warasgaon dams have dipped to a low of 0.9 TMC. Irrigation officials say such a delay in rains over dam sites and catchment areas was last observed in 1982,more than 27 years ago.

However,we do not expect any further cut in water supply; we will continue with the 20 per cent water cut till June 30,after which fresh decisions will be taken depending upon the rains, said S L Patil,chief engineer,Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation. The city has been consuming water at the rate of 50 million cusecs per day,after the 20 per cent water cut.

While Pune dams are seeing unprecedented lows in water levels with rains keeping away,Pavana dam at Pimpri Chinchwad has around 28 per cent water storage. It witnessed rains on Tuesday,even at the current storage levels,the water supply will last for three months, said Vijay Ghogare,executive engineer,Khadakwasla irrigation system,also in charge of Pavana and Chaskaman dams.

Story continues below this ad

Ujjani dam,on the other hand,has been drawing water from its dead storage. The dam storage level is in the negative (-17). They are supplying drinking water from the dead storage. This happens frequently at the Ujjani dam,which fills up rarely. Only in the last three-four years it has been reaching its full capacity, said Ghogare.

The district has 24 dams,but those critical to Pune city are only four. Out of these,irrigation department has transferred all the live water from Temghar and Warasgaon to Panshet and Khadakwasla to reduce evaporation.

Nearly all the other dams in the district have healthy storage,about 16 to 17 per cent water storage, Patil said. In fact,many dams continue to supply water for irrigation as well,he said.

Meanwhile,though the IMD announced that monsoon has set in,it is still not raining. It rained only in the fringe areas of the city on Tuesday. The forecast,however,says there will be rain or thundershowers in the city on Wednesday.

Story continues below this ad

Though the monsoon winds have reached Pune and some other parts of the Maharashtra,it is not raining in these parts. The phenomenon can be attributed to the subdued activity of the monsoon, said Medha Khole,director of weather section of IMD,Pune.

Khole said though there were no rains in the city,some showers were reported in the outskirts of the city.

She said the conditions were favourable for the advancement of monsoon. A depression has developed in the Arabian Sea and the monsoon is expected to advance to Gujarat in the next 24 hours. The North Madhya Maharashtra and North Konkan are predicted to receive heavy rains, she said.

Meanwhile,in terms of numbers,the rains have crossed the June average.

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories