Nagpur: The heavy rain of last Friday and subsequent showers in the city have not meant much for Totladoh dam from where the city gets its drinking water from. With its level rising only marginally, the supply to the city can last only for six months or so.
Even if drinking water needs of the city may be met, there are apprehensions about availability of water for irrigation. Around one lakh hectares of farmland is irrigated by Totladoh dam on Pench river.
Irrigation could not happen last year due to lack of water leading to protests by farmers
Last Friday’s record downpour in the city did not cover Totladoh dam whose storage went up only by 0.5 million cubic metre (MMC) of water taking it to 4.5% of the capacity which is over 1000 MMC.
On Tuesday it had touched 7.8%. This comes to 80 MMC, there is another 80 MMC in the Kamptee Khairi which is downstream of Totladoh.
Holding water in Chourai has halved the availability for Totladoh to 600 MMC. Of this 190 MMC is reserved for Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). For a single round of irrigation there has to be at least 450 MMC water in the dam.
The calculations consider a good rainfall for the season. There are concerns water may not be available for irrigation and alternative arrangements may have to be made, said a sources in irrigation department. The situation could improve if good rains occur on Maharashtra side, said the source.
There are standing instructions that irrigation has to be stopped if level in dam drops below 30%.
Apart from Totladoh, water level has gone up significantly in other dams of the region. The level at major dams of Nagpur division stands at 24% as against 12% in the same period last year. In Amravati division, the level is at 27% which is same as last year. Nagpur and Amravati divisions cover east and west Vidarbha respectively.
Totladoh is the only dam linked with a major city. In other projects, water can easily be spared for irrigation. For example Gosikhurd already has 77% of water, which can be used for irrigation. The rains left Wadgaon dam toward south of Nagpur almost full. It also caters to Mihan-SEZ, which consumes hardly 10% of the water reserved for it. Extra water at Wadgaon though cannot help Nagpur city, said a source.
