No rain in sight: PMC holds meeting to discuss water cuts in the city

Pune: The city has not experienced rain despite the predictions. In light of this, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) water department representatives and municipal leader Vikram Kumar met on Tuesday to make decisions regarding water restrictions in the city.

As of June 27, the water stock in the four dams – Kahdakwasla, Panshet, Warasgaon, and Temghar is 2.76 thousand million cubic feet (TMC). Last year on the same day the water level in all the four dams was 8.42 TMC.

The head of the weather forecasting division of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, Anupam Kashyapi, met with representatives from the PMC water department on Monday to discuss the season's predicted rainfall.

“During the meeting with the PMC officials, we explained to them the pattern in which monsoon is progressing. This time though there is progress on monsoon it is not a classical one. It is limited and, in some parts, it is weak and, in some pockets, it is strong monsoon,” said Kashyapi.

In May of the past five years, the city had seen intense pre-monsoon rain; however, in 2022, the city did not experience rain, and it only recorded 33.7mm of rain in June. The IMD estimates that there is an 89.6 mm rainfall deficit.

“As the arrival of monsoon is delayed so withdrawal is also expected after October 10. So, we have explained to them (PMC) that rain can happen at any time but since any system is not forming in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, rainfall is scanty in Pune. In our report we have mentioned that the current spell of rain is not as expected,” he added.

Aniruddha Pawaskar, head of water department PMC, said,” We have not planned any water cuts as of now.”

Every month, the city needs 1.5 TMC of water from Khadakwasla. According to the usual water supply plan, there should be enough water for 1.5 months.