Panshet Dam. Image used for representation. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre) As this year’s summer season nears a draw, dams supplying drinking water to Pune have retained sufficient stock.
This is a good sign ahead of the approaching monsoons, when the reservoirs will get fully replenished.
In comparison to the 2020 reserves, all dams supplying water to Pune city – Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar, have additional stocks ranging upto 13 per cent more, this year.
The collective available water reserves this May is 11.32 TMC with 1TMC surplus stocks for the same period from last year (See table below).
This trend was observed in April when the current year’s total water stocks were 18.91 TMC against 14.69TMC available in 2020.
However, the water reserves in Pavan dam, the drinking water lifeline of the twin-towns Pimpri Chinchwad, is slightly lesser than that of the same period which was available in 2020.
“The dams never dried up as there would be rain from time to time in the catchment areas,” said an officer at the irrigation department, Khadakwasla, Pune.
Another reason experts suggest could be the absence of hot or extreme heat conditions over Pune this summer, particularly in May, which could have led to limited evaporation of the surface water.
Table: Reservoir status in Pune for May (2020 and 2021)
Source: Water resources department, Maharashtra
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