Pune: The Khadakwasla dam has discharged over 29.5 TMC water into the Mutha river this monsoon so far, which is more than the total capacity of the four dams (29.15 TMC) in the Khadakwasla circle that supply water to Pune city and rural areas for the entire year.
The water discharge began late in July owing to scant monsoon rainfall in the catchment areas of Khadakwasla, Varasgaon, Panshet and Temghar in June and most of July. Last year, the Khadakwasla dam had released only 1.1 TMC water into the Mutha river in the entire season owing to poor monsoon rain.
An official from the irrigation department said, “The situation was worrisome at the beginning of this year’s monsoon as the four dams in the Khadakwasla circle had 2 TMC less in stock as compared to the last year. The storage did not show any significant improvement till first half of July, after which the rainfall activity picked up in the catchment areas.” The official said continuous rainfall in the later half of July and whole of Aug, however, made up for the deficiency.
“This not only pushed water levels in the dams to 100%, but also led to the discharge of 28 TMC excess water from all the four dams in the Khadakwasla circle. Panshet and Varasgaon released water at a rate of over 10,000 cusecs in July and Aug, while the discharge from Khadakwasla was increased to 35,000 cusecs. Heavy spells of continuous rain have been the prime reason behind the huge quantum of water discharge,” the official said.
The wate.