This story is from June 18, 2015

Revival hope floats on Peshwa-era ponds

Three ponds in Trimbakeshwar dating back to the Peshwa era and now full of silt and hyacinth may once again meet the residents’ requirement of water.
Revival hope floats on Peshwa-era ponds
NASHIK: Three ponds in Trimbakeshwar dating back to the Peshwa era and now full of silt and hyacinth may once again meet the residents’ requirement of water.
Two trustees of the main Trimbakeshwar temple — Lalita Shinde and Satyapriya Shukla — have adopted Indrakund, Gautam Kund and Bilvateerth and taken up the task of cleaning up the ponds. To start with, Shinde and Shukla embarked on the cleaning up of Indrakund from June 5 with the help of the Trimbakeshwar Municipal Corporation.

Water hyacinth, silt and other waste had covered up 15-20 feet of Indrakund and these are being cleaned with the help of 70-80 people. There are eight ghats around Indrakund that has a diameter of 75 metre.
Environment activists and the trustees said these ponds used to be reservoirs and if rejuvenated could once again provide water to the entire town. There are 93 such ponds in the town but have been neglected over the years by successive civic authorities.
“The ponds, right from Brahmagiri to Trimbakeshwar town, were built during the Peshwa era. We have adopted three of the big ancient ponds for cleaning those up. Once rejuvenated, these ponds can once again become the source of potable water for the entire town,” said Shinde.
On Monday, a group of environment activists and experts visited the ponds. They notice that Indrakund that has been sufficiently cleaned up, is now deep enough and can hold a lot of water. The water hyacinth has been cleared and the trustees are in the process of getting the silt cleared now.

“During the visit to the ponds with expert Prajakta Baste, we found that Indrakund has 3.50 lakh cubic feet volume and is 75 feet in radius. Gautamteerth is five lakh cubic feet in volume and Bilvateerth has a 2.5 lakh cubic feet volume. As much as 11 lakh cubic feet water can be generated from these three ponds if they are rejuvenated. These are the actual jalyukta shivar (water reservoirs). If the ponds are rejuvenated, these can provide sufficient water to the entire town. Trimbakeshwar is a rocky terrain and water comes out only from some fractures,” said environment activist Rajesh Pandit.
Citing an example of how water in this terrain could not be extracted from anywhere, the activists and the trustees said a 400-feet well was constructed by the government near Shabri kund at Kojuli village. “But the well does not have any water. On the other hand, Shabri Kund has enough water for fishing even in May,” an activist said.
A Trimbakeshwar Municipal Council official said they were providing water to the town through a pipeline from Beje dam, which is about three km away.
The activists and the trustees said rejuvenating these ponds could provide water to the entire town that has around 15,000-20,000 population and a floating population of around 20,000-30,000 every day.
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