Once-a-day water supply in Nashik to stay till Kumbh

NASHIK: The once-a-day water supply to the city is all set to continue until Kumbh mela starts next year given the inadequate rains this monsoon and the fear of a repeat of the same next year as well. The Nashik Municipal Corporation had introduced 15% water cuts from July 7 following a delayed monsoon and fear of scarcity in the days to come. Officials now say they will extend the cuts to the rest of the year, taking into account the rise in water demand during Kumbh.
Kumbh mela will commence on July 14, 2015 and will continue up to August 10, 2016. The water demand during this period is estimated to go up by 100 mld or 3.5 million cubic feet (mcft) per day, civic officials said. Nashik's current water requirement is 14 mcft water or 380 MLD (million litres a day) per day. With a 15 % cut in place, the city gets 12 mcft water a day.
The civic body will also demand to the water resources department that 5,000 mcft in Gangapur and Darna dam be reserved for the city to meet the additional water requirement during Kumbh mela. A meeting to discuss this is scheduled in October this year. Currently, NMC has a total reservation of 4,300 mcft water, including 4,000 mcft in Gangapur dam and 300 mcft in Darna dam.
Speaking to TOI, a senior NMC official said, "We are yet to get adequate monsoon and water level of Gangapur group of dams is only 19% (1,808 mcft of total capacity of 9,365 mcft). The Kumbh mela starts in July next year. The city's population will go up by 10% during Kumbh and we will need an additional 100 mld or 3.5 mcft per day. The water situation will become critical if the same situation of inadequate rains continues next year too. So we are planning to continue the existing water cut with once-a-day water supply until Kumbh mela starts."
The Gangapur group of dams and Darna dams are the city's major source of drinking water. Water in the dams is reserved for the municipal corporation for November to July period every year, but there is no reservation from August to October. Of the total reservation of 4,300 mcft in the dams, the NMC utilised 3,347 mcft water in the dams by June end.
He further said, "The meeting for water reservations is to be held in October. Considering the requirement of water for the kumbh mela, we will place demand of reserving 5,000 mcft water in dams for drinking pruposes for the municipal corporation. The decision in this connection is soon to be taken shortly."
The Gangpur group of dams is a major source of drinking water to the city and water is supplied in the city through 78 water tanks. The water in the dam will last until August 30 with the 15% cuts. The total capacity of the Gangapur group of dams (including Kashyapi and Gautami) is 9,365 million cubic feet (mcft). On Friday (July 19), the water level of Gangapur dam was recorded at 1,808 mcft (19% of total capacity), against 3,699 mcft (39 %) during the same day last year.
The total capacity of the Darna dam is 7,149 mcft. By Friday, the water level of the Darna dam was 1,420 mcft (20%), against 5364 mcft (75 %) during the same corresponding period last year.