Tunnel below Pune’s Bhama Ashkhed dam will tap low-level water

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has dug a tunnel below Bhama Ashkhed dam to tap water at the bottom of the reservoir during summer. The tunnel work is nearing completion and once the whole project is complete, PMC will do lake tapping to start water flow from this tunnel.

With growing population in Pune, PMC had decided to bring water from Bhama Ashkhed dam which is around 50-km away from the city. The project costs ₹380 crore. The water coming from Bhama Ashkhed dam would be used for eastern part of the city mainly Ahmednagar road, Viman Nagar, Vadgaon Sheri areas.

PMC officer Pravin Gedam and executive engineer Sudesh Kadu told Hindustan Times that the tunnel work is almost complete. Total tunnel is 210 meter out of which 130 meter is proper tunnel below the ground and there is open trenching of 80 meters within the water.

Kadu said, “The main purpose of this tunnel is to tap the water from the bottom and bring it in the jackwell. Usually in summers, dam water levels are below and it is not possible to lift the remaining water in the reservoir. This project identifies the lowest level of the dam and the tunnel will bring the water from that level to jackwell. ”

Kadu said that this was the first time the municipal corporation had dug a tunnel below the dam. PMC appointed expert contractors who are experienced in working in water. First they dug the big well near the dam and when the well depth went below the dam’s bottom, the tunnel works started. PMC erected a jackwell in the same well as the water coming from the dam will be pumped and will come on gravitational force to Pune city without any pumping anywhere.