NASHIK: Manmad town, the third-largest urban pocket in Nashik district, is running out of drinking water. The chief officer of Manmad Council, Vijay Kumar Mundhe said that Waghdardi dam, from which the civic body draws water, has less water stock available and the civic body is unable to provide water to residents. Due to depletion of water stock in Waghdardi dam, which supplies water, the city is once again staring at a severe water crisis.
Chief officer Vijay Kumar Mundhe has announced that water will be supplied to the city only twice a month considering the availability of water. The dam had overflowed eight months ago. The residents are questioning that how did the water storage in the dam decrease even when all the rotations were taken from Palkhed reservoir. Where did the water dry up?
Already the citizens have been facing water scarcity for the last several years barring last year when the dam was filled to the brim. While thinking of it, many questions are being raised by the citizens as to how water scarcity has re-emerged. Meanwhile, citizens have blamed the council administration, especially chief officer Mundhe, for the water shortage.
District Guardian Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, District Collector Suraj Mandhare and local MLA should investigate the water shortage crisis and take action against the guilty officer. Such a demand is being made by the city dwellers suffering from increasing water scarcity. The retreating rains in September last had caused havoc.
There was heavy rainfall especially in the catchment area of Waghdardi dam. As a result, the dam was overflowed. After many years, the dam began to overflow and flooded, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in the city breathless. The capacity of Waghdardi dam is 110 million cubic feet and more than 100 million cubic feet of water has been received from Palkhed Dam through four cycles.
2020: The year that was
In 2020, Waghdardi dam was filled for the first time in last 35 years. Water conflicts have been a way of life in Manmad where the entire city depends on a parallel water economy of water tankers, tractors and private bore wells. With the onset of summer, the citizens of Manmad are always afraid of the severe water shortage like they confront every year, but for the first time in 35 years that they had not faced water scarcity due to the abundant water stock in Waghdardi dam, a major source of water supply for the city which had provided a big relief for the citizens
