El Nino effect: State asks PMC to prepare plan for water distribution till August

Maharashtra government has written to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and alerted officials about potential effects of the El Nino influence on this year’s monsoon. The government has also asked PMC to prepare water distribution plan till August this year in anticipation of delayed arrival of monsoon or deficient rainfall.

Experts have already warned about the possible El Nino effect on the southwest monsoon in India. Referring to the same, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has advised state government that the administration should be prepared for El Nino impact and appealed that water available in the dams should be used judiciously.

El Nino condition, as per weather experts, is when surface water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean becomes warmer than average and the east winds get weaker, bringing about extremes that include flooding or drought.

After instructions from Fadnavis, state government has now alerted all the municipal corporations and local bodies including Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad to take precautions for the available storage if the rains would get delayed.

PMC water department head Aniruddha Pawaskar confirmed that they have received a letter from the state government.

“As there was good rain in the last monsoon, there is enough water storage in Khadakwasla reservoir. But we need to take care during the summer as demand has increased and the stock plummeted now. Usually, PMC is prepared to supply water from dams till July, but now we need to plan well,” he said.

Earlier this month, the water level of all the dams in the Pune region stood at 54.58% compared to 74.27% last year. This was mostly because summer arrived early this year.

The water levels in four dams around Pune–Panshet, Khadakwasala, Warasgaon and Temghar have also gone down.

In Maharashtra, there are 3,267 dams, and the current average water level as on March 22 stood at 63.88%, compared to 68.09% the previous year on the same day.

Last year PMC had planned an alternate day water supply from July 4, 2022. However, within a week the monsoon had arrived and PMC had to reverse the water cuts.

The issue of El Nino was also discussed in the weekly state cabinet meeting on February 16, when Fadnavis sounded an alert saying that the state could get affected due to deficient rainfall on account of the El Nino effect.

Maharashtra has experienced a drought in 2012, and 2018. Since 2019, the state has witnessed good rains.

Water storage in Pune dams

(Figures as of March 22)

Dam; Water storage; Previous year’s storage

Panshet; 52.18%; 98.98%

Warasgaon; 69.57%; 94.61%

Khadakwasla; 52.17%; 39.3%

Temghar; 10.25%; 100.0%

Source: Water resource department, Government of Maharashtra