The delayed onset of the monsoon is a growing concern for Maharashtra, as the reservoirs that supply the state's drinking water are rapidly running dry.
According to Maharashtra’s Water Resources Department, the state’s major reservoirs were at just 23% of their total storage capacity on June 15, compared with 28% during the same period last year.
A total of 138 major reservoirs supply drinking water and irrigate farmland across the state.
The Pune region, which has 35 major reservoirs, recorded the lowest water storage level at just 12%, compared with 24% during the same period last year. In contrast, the Nagpur region’s 16 major reservoirs held 38% of their storage capacity, up from 31% a year earlier. The Amravati region, with 10 major reservoirs, reported 38% water storage, unchanged from the previous year.
The Sambhaji Nagar region that has highest 44 reservoirs have presently 32 per cent water stock against 34 per cent last year while Nasik region with 22 reservoirs has 23 per cent water stock against 28 per cent last year. The Konkan region reservoir that has lowest 11 reservoirs has 23 per cent water storage against 28 per cent last year.
Data from the state Water Resources Department shows that of the total 35,532 million cubic litres of water stored in 138 major reservoirs, 29,104 million cubic litres is classified as live storage and is available for drinking and other uses. The remaining 6,427 million cubic litres has been designated as dead storage, which is generally not usable under normal conditions.
In Pune region, there are several reservoirs that has reached the dead stock and they stopped supplying the water to irrigation purpose and exclusively reserved for the drinking water purpose only.
As a precaution, the Pune Municipal corporation has issued the advisory, cutting the 50 per cent water cut besides asking housing societies and gymkhana, not to operate the swimming pools that consumes a lot of water. It has also asked the citizens, not the water judiciously as monsoon delay has worsened the situation in state.
In Mumbai, the BMC has already declared the 10 per cent water cut and it likely to increase more if monsoon does not arrive in couple of days. The residence of Mumbai complained that there is only ten per cent water but in reality, it must be more because they are receiving blackened and clay mix water that is part of the dead stock of reservoirs that supply the water to metropolis.