Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Aug 10 (PTI) Water storage in small and medium irrigation projects in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region still remains below 45 per cent of their capacity though nearly half of August has passed and just 50 days are left for the monsoon to end, according to an official report.
The semi-arid region, consisting of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Nanded, Parbhani, Latur, Hingoli and Dharashiv districts, is home to 76 medium and 778 small irrigation projects built on various rivers.
The 76 medium projects have a capacity to store 958.4 million cubic metres (MCM) of water. Till August 7, these projects had 207 MCM of storage, which is 21.60 per cent of the overall capacity, said the report from the Divisional Commissioner office based in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
It said the 778 small projects across the region have a capacity of storing 1691.5 MCM of water. These projects currently (till August 7) have 295.9 MCM of storage, which is just 17.50 per cent of the overall capacity.
The 15 barrages on the Godavari river have a capacity of 348.2 MCM and they have 45.66 per cent of storage (158.9 MCM), the report stated.
The condition of 35 barrages on rivers Terna and Manjara, which supply water to Latur, Dharashiv and parts of Beed, is even worse. They have 6.3 MCM of water storage, which is just 8.3 per cent of the total capacity (77.5 MCM), it pointed out.
The average water storage in 11 mega irrigation projects in the central Maharashtra region was 67.65 per cent. However, of these, the Sina Kolegaon project in Dharashiv district has zero water storage, according to the report.
Jayakwadi (93.66 per cent) and Vishnupuri (95.20 per cent) are the only projects in the region which currently have water storage above 90 per cent of their capacity, stated the report.
The region has received 352.9 mm rainfall since June 1, which is 92.2 per cent of the expected showers (382.6 mm). Rainfall is less in the districts of Parbhani (76.7 per cent), Latur (67.7 per cent), another report said.
Only two districts — Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (113.4) and Jalna (109.5 per cent) — have received rainfall above the average expected showers, it added. PTI AW RSY
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