First showers boost Latur’s water stock

Parts of Latur district witnessed moderate to heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday

Parts of Latur district witnessed moderate to heavy rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday. The rainfall, though unseasonal, came as a respite as it marginally raised the water stock and led to a drop in the temperatures.

Latur city, which has survived on water supplied from tankers for months and has been in the news for the unprecedented water scarcity, witnessed it first showers on Wednesday. Though the total rainfall recorded in the city was about 2mm on Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon, the city witnessed cloudy weather for the entire day.

Talukas such as Reapur and Udagir have had unseasonal rains in past few days. Renapur, Poharegaon villages in Renapur Taluka had 15mm and 17mm of rainfall, respectively, on Tuesday. The 10 talukas of Latur district witnessed the average rainfall of 4mm on Tuesday. Ausa witnessed smaller spells of rain on Tuesday, leading to a rise in stock in the smaller water bodies.

“The rainfall in past couple of days helped in recharging of water levels in the watershed management projects in the district,” said Narayan Ubale, resident district collector of Latur.

Sachin Padval, a resident of Shellal village in Udagir, said villages in his taluka have been witnessing intermittent showers in the past few days. He said it has not benefitted in the accumulating potable water and tankers continued making rounds. As many as 205 tankers make rounds in Latur city and and 303 tankers supply water in the rural areas.

Apart from Latur, other districts of the Marathwada too received minor spells of the rain.