Water stock of 24 dams in Nashik district recedes to 17%

NASHIK: The collective water storage in 24 dams in Nashik district has dipped to 17%. The authorities, however, claim that they are well prepared to deal with the situation.
"The situation in the drought-affected district is turning grim as summer reaches its peak. The district administration is prepared to face the situation as it has reserved water for drinking purpose that will last till July-end," a senior district official said.
He pointed out that the water in Gangapur Dam complex, which provides water to the NMC, has dipped to 25%. During the corresponding last year, the comples was filled upto 44% of the total capacity.
The Gangpur Complex currently has 2,350 mcft water in store as against 4,106 mcft during the same time last year. The total capacity of the three-dam complex is 9,350 mcft.
The water across 24 dams is stored for various places in Ahmednagar, Auranagabad, Nashik and parts of Jalgaon districts. Similarly, the water stored in Darna complex, which caters to parts of Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts, currently is 2,458 mcft as against 4,974 mcft at the same time last year.
"The current storage in Darna dam has receeded to less than 13% as against 26% around the same time last year. Most of the water in the dam is reserved for parts of two parched districts downstream of Nashik," the Water Resources Department (WRD) officials said.
The situation for Jalgaon district that draws water from Girna Dam in Nashik district is better as the water storage is the just about the same as it was last year.
"The Girna Dam has 4,972 mcft of water, which amounts to 20%. During the corresponding period last year, there was 5,230 mcft (21%) of water," the district administration said.
The entire stock of water in the district 11,097 mcft. Last year, the total storage in May was 17,293 mcft.
"This year we have reserved water only for drinking purpose. We have not enough water to be distributed for agricultural purpose. The reserved water is enough only for drinking purpose only till July 31," officials said.