Dams in Drought-Hit Marathwada Left With 3 Percent Water

Workers fill water in Central Railway train tanks to transport to drought affected Latur District from Miraj station near Sangli. (Photo: PTI)

In more bad news for the drought-hit Marathwada region, only 3 percent water is left in dams in the parched region, officials said on Tuesday.

Eight of the region’s 11 major dams are at dead storage level, which means water from these dams cannot flow out and has to be lifted.

This is a drastic decline in water storage as at this time last year, the level in Marathwada’s dams was much higher at 11 percent. We will also use the groundwater stock and as the IMD forecast is good, we hope that we will be able to carry on till the monsoon arrives.

Umakant Dangat, Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner

This is the fourth year of drought in Marathwada in the past five years. Each of its 8,522 villages has been affected for two consecutive years.

We have already cut water supply to (the) industry. The collectors and divisional commissioner have been instructed that the use of water for drinking is the top priority.

Girish Mahajan, Maharashtra Water Resources Minister

As many as 2,745 water tankers are being used in the region compared to 939 this time last year.

Latur in Marathwada has been getting water by a special “water train” filled at Miraj in western Maharashtra.

The Aurangabad collector has already announced a 20 percent water cut to local breweries and a 10 percent overall cut to local industry.

Dams across the state have only 19 percent water left compared to 32 percent this time last year, an official of Maharashtra Irrigation Department said.