The Irrigation department has reduced water leaks from Temghar dam wall by 90 per cent. File
The Maharashtra Water Resources department has requested Rs 94 crore more from the Irrigation department to take measures to close all leaks in Temghar dam. Under the directions of the Central Water Power Research Station (CWPRS), the irrigation department has already managed to repair 90 per cent of the leaks in the dam.
“The plan is to bring down the leakage from the dam wall to zero. Long term safety measures have to be taken up so a proposal of Rs 94 crore has been sent to the state irrigation department. It will take two years to complete the work,” said Pravin Kolhe, superintending engineer at state water resources department.
The state Irrigation department has been under criticism since 2016, when water started leaking from the dam wall at a rate of 2,587 litres per second. Emergency measures were undertaken and by 2019, the rate of water leakage from the dam was brought down to 200 litres per second. Based on a technical report of leaks in the dam, the CWPRS created a model of the dam walls and conducted experiments to find the best possible method to repair the dam walls.
The dam was filled to its capacity of 3.71 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) in the monsoon and the water then released on priority in the Khadakwasla reservoir to continue the repairs. The work was estimated to cost Rs 100 crore but after additional steps were proposed to strengthen the dam, the cost is likely to rise to Rs 150 crore. The Temghar dam was constructed across Mutha river in Mulshi in 2010 to meet the increased drinking water needs of Pune city.
The dam has a length of 1,075 metres and height of 86.65 metres with a catchment area of 37.7 sq km.