1 week Ago By Sarang Dastane
Pune: The Khadakwasla dam has discharged over 29.5 TMC water into the Mutha river this monsoon so far, which is more than the total capacity of the four dams (29.15 TMC) in the Khadakwasla circle that supply water to Pune city and rural areas for the entire year.
The water discharge began late in July owing to scant monsoon rainfall in the catchment areas of Khadakwasla, Varasgaon, Panshet and Temghar in June and most of July. Last year, the Khadakwasla dam had released only 1.1 TMC water into the Mutha river in the entire season owing to poor monsoon rain.
An official from the irrigation department said, “The situation was worrisome at the beginning of this year’s monsoon as the four dams in the Khadakwasla circle had 2 TMC less in stock as compared to the last year. The storage did not show any significant improvement till first half of July, after which the rainfall activity picked up in the catchment areas.” The official said continuous rainfall in the later half of July and whole of Aug, however, made up for the deficiency.
“This not only pushed water levels in the dams to 100%, but also led to the discharge of 28 TMC excess water from all the four dams in the Khadakwasla circle. Panshet and Varasgaon released water at a rate of over 10,000 cusecs in July and Aug, while the discharge from Khadakwasla was increased to 35,000 cusecs. Heavy spells of continuous rain have been the prime reason behind the huge quantum of water discharge,” the official said.
The water release from the Khadakwasla dam continued even on Saturday, though it was brought down to 4,500 cusecs by evening. Irrigation department officials said the live storage in the four dams in the Khadakwasla circle was at 99%. “Water was being released from the Khadakwala dam to accommodate the inflow of rainwater.
The water discharge from all the four dams are being monitored round the clock. The release can go up further as IMD has forecast fairly good spells of rain in Sept too,” another irrigation department official said. According to irrigation department’s data, Temghar has recorded over 3,900mm of rainfall since June 1, while Panshet and Varasgaon have received over 2,600mm each.
All three dams have received at least 600mm more rainfall than last year. In fact, Temghar’s rainfall is also the highest recorded among the 26 major dams in the Bhima basin, followed by Mulshi (3,500mm) and Pavana (3,000mm). The water released into the Mutha river flows into the Bhima river and then into the Ujani dam.
On Saturday, the irrigation department maintained water discharge from Ujani dam at 40,000 cusecs as its storage has already reached its capacity. Apart from Khadakwasla and Ujani, 20 reservoirs in the Bhima basin discharged water on Saturday owing to rainfall in their catchments and storages in these dams reaching 95% of their holding capacities..
