State stares at water crisis as it logs 18% rain deficit; 18 districts affected
Mumbai In the last three months of monsoons, the dry spell in August has impacted the state’s water reserves, marked by an 18.4% deficit of rain. Eighteen districts received less than 75% of the average rain in this period. Given this situation, the state could be staring at a severe water crisis if it does not get sufficient rain in the remaining days of this season, which is the end of September.
A report received by the chief minister’s office on Tuesday from the agriculture department underscores this point. (See box.)
1955 villages and hamlets are facing shortage of drinking water already and the government has put 406 tankers on the road to supply potable water. In this period last year, only seven villages faced such a crisis which was combated with four tankers pressed into service. Apart from the alarming report of the volume of additional supply, the water storage report by the water resources department is equally startling – the dams have less than 20% stock compared to last year. On Tuesday the storage in the dams was only 64.75% of its capacity. Last year the dams had 84.84% water storage at this time.
Ujani dam, which is one of the largest in the state, has only 17.54% live stock compared to 100% available last year. Koyana dam has only 80.36% live stock today compared to 94.60% last year. While the margin of deficit in the dam over last year may not seem big, considering that the dam uses 67 TMC water for hydro power generation, the 14% deficit could affect power generation from the hydro project in summer next year.
The rain deficit in the state has also affected the crops in one thirds of the state and the agriculture department has initiated the process of reviewing crop damage to ensure that farmers get the advance payment under the crop insurance schemes. Officers from the agriculture commissioner office said, a report submitted to the government states out of 2579 revenue circles 446 did not receive rainfall for more than 21 days and 608 revenue circles did not receive rain for more than 15 days. The shortfall has affected crops in 1054 revenue circles in 14 districts. “The Agriculture department is continuously monitoring the situation in the state, so that farmers can be paid after the review of crop damage is completed,” said Anup Kumar, additional chief secretary, agriculture department.
Laxman Jadhav, a 43-year-old farmer from Bakshi Hipparaga village, in south Solapur tehsil fears he will lose 50% of his crop. “There has been no rain here for the last four weeks. I sowed udad (black split gram) in my field and was expecting 28 quintal of produce from my five-acre land. But this dry spell has affected the crop and I will lose half of my produce,” said Jadhav.
Mumbai In the last three months of monsoons, the dry spell in August has impacted the state’s water reserves, marked by an 18.4% deficit of rain. Eighteen districts received less than 75% of the average rain in this period. Given this situation, the state could be staring at a severe water crisis if it does not get sufficient rain in the remaining days of this season, which is the end of September.
A report received by the chief minister’s office on Tuesday from the agriculture department underscores this point. (See box.)
1955 villages and hamlets are facing shortage of drinking water already and the government has put 406 tankers on the road to supply potable water. In this period last year, only seven villages faced such a crisis which was combated with four tankers pressed into service. Apart from the alarming report of the volume of additional supply, the water storage report by the water resources department is equally startling – the dams have less than 20% stock compared to last year. On Tuesday the storage in the dams was only 64.75% of its capacity. Last year the dams had 84.84% water storage at this time.
Ujani dam, which is one of the largest in the state, has only 17.54% live stock compared to 100% available last year. Koyana dam has only 80.36% live stock today compared to 94.60% last year. While the margin of deficit in the dam over last year may not seem big, considering that the dam uses 67 TMC water for hydro power generation, the 14% deficit could affect power generation from the hydro project in summer next year.
The rain deficit in the state has also affected the crops in one thirds of the state and the agriculture department has initiated the process of reviewing crop damage to ensure that farmers get the advance payment under the crop insurance schemes. Officers from the agriculture commissioner office said, a report submitted to the government states out of 2579 revenue circles 446 did not receive rainfall for more than 21 days and 608 revenue circles did not receive rain for more than 15 days. The shortfall has affected crops in 1054 revenue circles in 14 districts. “The Agriculture department is continuously monitoring the situation in the state, so that farmers can be paid after the review of crop damage is completed,” said Anup Kumar, additional chief secretary, agriculture department.
Laxman Jadhav, a 43-year-old farmer from Bakshi Hipparaga village, in south Solapur tehsil fears he will lose 50% of his crop. “There has been no rain here for the last four weeks. I sowed udad (black split gram) in my field and was expecting 28 quintal of produce from my five-acre land. But this dry spell has affected the crop and I will lose half of my produce,” said Jadhav.
