Pune, July 17: The spillway gates of any reservoir will not be opened till they had achieved 80 per cent of their capacity, state water resources minister Ajit Pawar said here on Thursday. Till afternoon, the reservoir levels had recorded only 7.55 TMC — only around 27 per cent of their capacity.
Pawar was speaking on the sidelines of the 37th foundation day ceremony of the Ground Water Survey and Development Agency (GSDA). “We have not released any water through the gates and we will not do so till the storage capacity reaches 80 per cent,” he said.
The spillway gates are used to regulate floods. Flooding in parts of the city had been caused because of heavy rainfall in the downstream areas, not because of dam waters, he said.
At present, Pune is facing a 40 per cent water cut while it is 20 per cent cut in Pimpri-Chinchwad. “Last year at this time, the city had 78 per cent water stored in the dams, now it’s only around 25 per cent,” Pawar said. “We will review the cut only after the dams achieve 80 per cent of their 27 TMC storage capacity. At present, it is less than 8 TMC.”
The Irrigation Department has to make water available for agriculture and supply Pune with drinking water for an entire year, he said. The city needs to look at long-term solutions for water management, such as recycling of used water, borewell management and rainwater harvesting.
Till 5 pm on Thursday, Khadakwasla dam was at 2.8 TMC, Varasgaon at 2.23 TMC, Panshet at 1.8 TMC and Temghar at 0.68 TMC. The rainfall in the catchment areas had reduced considerably and it was between 7 mm to 38 mm in all dams on Thursday.
—Agencies