Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
In a surprising development, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) is recording a shortage of 5 MLD of water while lifting from its source in Jayakwadi Dam since the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) has started releasing water from the Left Canal.
The shortage of water is expected to grow in the coming days. It is feared that the temperature rise has increased the evaporation of water in a large quantity and it will create an effect on the storage of water sources.
Presently there is 22 percent of useable (livestock) water at the source (water storage). Hence the CSMC is facing challenges in planning the water distribution during April and July.
The city gets water from the dam situated 45 km away. There are a huge number of leakages in the main pipelines drawing water from the source to the city. The CSMC lifts 130 to 135 MLD of water daily, but due to leakages in main pipelines, a quantity of 110 to 120 MLD of water is reaching the city.
Meanwhile, the officials had to walk through a tightrope due to a decline in lifting quantity, it is learnt.
The water is lifted from the dam and after treatment at Pharola Plant, it is stored in the Master Balancing Reservoir (MBR) at Nakshatrawadi.
The supply of water is made through the rotation schedule. On Monday, many areas in the city got the water supply on time, but it was only for 30 minutes.
The CSMC executive engineer (water supply) K M Phalak said, “ The DoW has started releasing water from the left canal in the Jayakwadi Dam. Hence this has affected the water lifting capacity by 5 per cent. The CSMC is lifting 125-130 MLD of water. The present situation may affect the water supply of the city.”