Panvel: In a major relief for Panvel residents, the Dehrang dam, which supplies water to the city, has reached full capacity following heavy rainfall on Monday. This development has prompted the Panvel Municipal Corporation to cancel the weekly water cuts that had been in effect since March.
Due to declining reservoir levels, Panvel had been experiencing water rationing, with one-day-a-week water cuts. These cuts were expected to continue until June. However, the city received an unexpected downpour of 296 mm on Monday, leading to the dam overflowing — a rare occurrence in May.
“This is the first time in recent memory that the dam has filled to the brim in May itself,” said local villagers. The dam has a storage capacity of 3.125 million cubic meters and typically meets the city’s daily demand of 1.6 million liters. However, Panvel requires 3.2 million liters daily, with the shortfall usually met through water supplied by the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).
Since March, the civic body had limited water extraction from the dam to just 0.4–0.5 million liters per day in a bid to stretch resources until monsoon arrived. With MJP stepping in to provide additional supplies during this period, the situation was kept under control. Now, with the dam overflowing, the water crisis has effectively come to an end.
Deputy Engineer of the Panvel Water Supply Department, Vilas Chavan, confirmed that water cuts have been officially withdrawn starting Monday. “The citizens cooperated with us during the tough period, and we thank them for their support,” he said.
Residents, in turn, expressed gratitude to the Municipal Corporation for managing the crisis and acting swiftly to restore full water supply.