Team Blitz India
MUMBAI: Water level in the state’s dams is down to 41 per cent of their capacity against 56.5 per cent at the same time last year. With this, over 70 per cent of Maharashtra’s districts are facing drought.
The arid Marathwada region, known for water scarcity, is particularly hardhit, with dam water storage plummeting to 21.3 per cent of capacity compared to 46 per cent during the same period last year.
Similarly, in the sugar belt of Western Maharashtra, dam water storage has declined to 41.5 per cent of capacity from 69.5 per cent last year.
In North Maharashtra, dam water levels are also alarmingly low at 41.4 per cent of capacity compared to 57.5 per cent last year. However, there is a silver lining in the Nagpur division, where dam water levels have significantly improved, standing at 50.7 per cent of capacity compared to a mere 33.3 per cent last year.
The severity of the situation is evident from the fact that 940 tankers are currently supplying water to 2,913 villages and hamlets across the state, marking an increase from just 29 tankers serving 94 villages at the same time last year.
Water and land management experts blame the state’s poor planning for the water crisis. More than 60 per cent of the state’s water resources go into water-intensive sugarcane crop, which increases the strain on irrigation water.
Experts have criticised the state’s neglect of its 1.25 lakh minor irrigation projects, including KT Weirs and percolation tanks, emphasising the need for maintenance rather than investing in ineffective schemes like Jalyukta Shivar. They also point out the shortcomings of the farm pond scheme, which does not address groundwater depletion issues downstream.
