Water crisis in Marathwada worsens as 7 dams dry up

MUMBAI: The stock of ‘live water’ or ‘usable water’ in seven key dams in the droughtstruck Marathwada region of Maharashtra, including Asia’s largest earthen dam Jaikwadi in Aurangabad, has come down to zero. Live water is drawable water, while ‘dead stock’ is water that cannot be used.

A top bureaucrat said, “Last year, only one dam had reached zero level. This time, there are seven of them, so we are forced to lift water from the dead stock, which will not last long.” Marathwada has 11 big dams in all. The Jaikwadi one is the largest, with an irrigation potential of 2.37 lakh hectares and storage capacity of 2,171million cubic litres.

The other dams at zero level are Majalgaon, Manjara, Lo wer Terna, Manar, Siddheshwar and Sina-Kolegaon.

The bureaucrat said dams in the region had only 5% live water stock as of March 25, while the stock at the same time last year was 18%. “As summer progresses, things will get worse,” he said.

A total of 2,378 tankers have been deployed in eight districts in the region, the state official said. While 210 tankers have been deployed in Latur, the hometown of the late former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, the district collector there has imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, banning assembly of five or more persons near the tanker-filling areas.

Revenue minister Eknath Khadse said he had a marathon meeting with railway minister Suresh Prabhu on transportation of water from Pandharpur to Latur by wagons.“We are drafting a comprehensive action plan for transportation of water. We are sure it will work out,“ he said.