Maharashtra Water Crisis: After Bengaluru, now Maharashtra is facing severe water crisis across the state as water level in major dams have depleted. In the meantime, the Pune Municipal Corporation has imposed restrictions on the use of water in the city.
The development comes as water levels in major dams across Maharashtra have dropped to 32.72% of their total storage capacity. And four major dams in Pune such as Khadakwasla, Temghar, Panshet and Varasgaon are having only 10.31 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water as against 12.91 TMC on the corresponding day last year.
One office from Maharashtra water resources department told Hindustan Times that compared to last year, this summer seems to be hotter and less rainfall has contributed to the decline in dam water levels.
He added that right now 138 major dams across the state hold only 32.72% of their total storage capacity (a more than 7.1% decrease from last year).
Amid intense water crisis, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) issued orders for the judicious use of water and instructed car washing centres not to use water supplied by the civic body to wash cars. The PMC also issued instructions for the use of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) water for construction activities.
With the water crisis rising speedily, the demand for water tankers is increasing as villages struggle to access water. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in a statement said that it has increased water tanker trips in the 34 merged villages due to complaints of inadequate water supply.
The PMC right now is distributing 300 water tankers to 11 out of the 34 merged villages and 800 water tankers to the remaining 23 villages to address the demand for water in areas such as Sus, Mahalunge, Pisoli, Holkar Wadi, Phursungi, Uruli and Catari Bu. As the water continues to be minimal in these affected areas, the PMC said in a statement that it had to increased water supply in tankers by 10%.
As per the report by HT, the water level in various divisions of the state is certainly a cause for concern. The Marathwada division in Maharashtra has the lowest water storage at 19.36%; after the Pune division at 36.34%; Nagpur division at 48.84%; Amravati division at 49.62%; Nashik division at 38.17%; and Konkan division at 50.50%.
Maharashtra has a total of 138 major dams and out of which 17 are completely dry; 23 have less than 10% water storage; 20 have more than 50% water storage. Then you will see the rest of the dams have 20 to 40% water storage.
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