Dams in Pune division now hold 40% more water than on July 1

Pune: The water level of 35 key dams in the Pune division has collectively gone up by 40% in the last ten days.The overall storage of these dams, which was down to 11% on July 1, has climbed to 51% on July 10 due to persistent rainfall over the last week.

These dams, collectively, recorded inflow of over 170 Thousand Million Cubic feet (TMC).The irrigation department, however, stated that there is no immediate plan to discharge water from any major dam, despite a significant rise in storage, in order to reserve water for drinking requirements.An official from the irrigation department said the situation has improved compared to the beginning of the month, but there is a long way to go to reach a comfortable position.

“The storage has increased to 51%, but it is still below last year’s storage of 70%, which these dams have had on the same day. Also, the rainfall has dropped in the catchments of all major dams from Thursday. It will reduce the inflow. We are in constant touch with the weather department, and the next spell of rain is expected in the last week of July,” the official said.The Pune division comprises five districts. There are 35 major dams, comprising four dams from Kolhapur district, 22 dams from Pune district, seven from Satara, one dam each from Solapur and Sangli district.

The key dams that have recorded significant inflow of water included Koyna, Radhanagari, Dhom, Ujani and Veer.Sources from the department said the situation was critical at the end of June when the collective water stock in 35 dams was depleted to 55 TMC owing to the late arrival of the monsoon. At present, these dams store 225 TMC collectively. The storage in more than 25 reservoirs has reached above 50% of their respective capacities, while water levels in three dams are nearing full capacities.Meanwhile, water stock in five dams around Pune continued to record a rise on Friday even after a considerable drop in rainfall. The collective storage reached 16.52 TMC on Friday evening, recording a rise of 0.52 TMC rise from Thursday’s storage.