Halfway mark of monsoon sees over 66% water in state’s dams

According to the August 1 water storage report released by the water resources department, the worst affected region this monsoon is Marathwada, where dams so far have reached only 41.28% of their capacity, 16% less than last year’s 57.60%

MUMBAI: The dreaded El Nino factor has been hard on Maharashtra this monsoon. As many as 618 villages and 1,651 hamlets in 17 districts of the state are facing a shortage of drinking water, forcing the government to provide this through 758 tankers. During the same period last year, only 39 tankers were running.

Halfway mark of monsoon sees over 66% water in state’s dams

The sparse rain has also affected the water level in dams across the state. Maharashtra has 3,029 small, medium and big dams with a total storage capacity of 40,786 million cubic metres. The total stock in these dams on August 1, the halfway mark of the monsoon, was 27,240 million cubic metres or 66.79% of their total capacity. Last year during the same period, it was 70.92%.

According to the August 1 water storage report released by the water resources department, the worst affected region this monsoon is Marathwada, where dams so far have reached only 41.28% of their capacity, 16% less than last year’s 57.60%. The only silver lining in bleak Marathwada comes from the region’s largest dam, Jayakwadi, which has a water level of 76.54%.

Ujani Dam in Pune region, which is one of the largest dams in the state, has a stock of 95.39%. Koyna dam has 84.77% stock. While the margin of deficit in the dam over the last year may not seem significant, considering that the dam uses 67 TMC water for hydro-power generation, the 14% deficit could affect power generation from the hydro project next summer.

Although the large dams have satisfactory water storage, the irregular and uneven rainfall due to the El Nino factor has affected the water storage in medium and small dams. Medium-sized dams have only 53.55% of their live storage capacity and small-sized dams have only 35.95%.

Given the shortfall, 758 government tankers have been providing water to the dry areas. The highest number of tankers (395 ) were running in Marathwada region and providing water to 255 villages and 129 hamlets. In North Maharashtra, which includes districts like Nashik and Jalgaon, 251 tankers were providing water.

The rain deficit has also affected the agriculture sector and kharif sowing. Maharashtra has an average 144.36 lakh hectares of land under kharif crops, and as of now, sowing has taken place on 12.48 million hectares (86%). Compared to last year, this is 1.2 million hectares less.

Although the situation in the state’s dams is overall a matter of concern, thanks to the heavy rains in the Konkan and Nashik regions and the catchment areas, dams providing water to Mumbai have a healthy water storage of 88.41%. While Upper Vaitarna has a 74.45% water stock, Tansa has 98.77%, Middle Vaitarna has 92.37%, and both Modak Sagar and Bhatsa are 100% full. Tulsi and Vihar lakes are also full.