The water scarcity continues to haunt residents of Old Panvel as the alternate day water supply scheme entered the fourth week.
The catchment areas of the Dehrang dam that supplies water to the Old Panvel area have received scanty rainfall and thus there is no major change in the level of the dam to restore the water supply.
The water scarcity issues cropped up during the last general body meeting of Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) to which the PWP corporator had suggested a long-term solution.
Contractor Arvind Mhatre suggested that the civic body can work on a proposal to bring water from the Kundalika river in Roha Taluka where Tata power releases around 2858 MLD of water every day which ultimately goes into the sea.
“Instead of releasing the water into the sea, the PMC can work on a proposal to bring that water from Kundalika river to the city which is around 90 km away,” said Mhatre, adding that other municipal corporations like NMMC and BMC have water resources more than 100 km away from the city. “If the civic body works on this proposal, the water problems can be solved up to 2050,” he added.
In the last week of May, the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) issued a public notice regarding an alternate day water supply in the Old Panvel area from May 28 and requested cooperation with the civic body.
The local body was expecting that a timely arrival of the monsoon will push the dam level and it will restore the water supply. However, even in the fourth week of June, the Panvel taluka has received very scanty rainfall.
As per the data shared by the district administration, the Panvel Taluka has received just 103 mm of rainfall till the morning of June 24. However, in the same period last year, a total of 862 mm of rainfall was recorded.
At present, the civic body is getting water supply from Maharashtra Jal Pradhikaran (MJP) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). The city requires around 28 to 30 MLD of water daily to meet the demand.
Mhatre said that the civic administration has assured to look into the proposal. “After the meeting, the civic administration was very positive about the proposal,” he added.
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