Will Pune run of water this year? Understanding water sources of PMC, PCMC and Hinjawadi and their current stock

Pune | April 23, 2024: With the summer at its peak and the sun blazing down mercilessly over Pune city and its surroundings, the residents are eagerly awaiting the arrival of monsoon. However, with the rainy season still about 40 days away, concerns have started rising about continuous water availability across the city. Recent water scarcity in Bengaluru has made Pune citizens particularly more concerned fearing a similar situation.

To address these concerns, PuneNow conducted an extensive research, based on the data shared by Water Resources Department, Government of Maharashtra and reached some interesting conclusions.

Before we dive deep and analyze each water source of the city, the broad conclusion is not worse than last year because as on today, the city has more or less similar water stock like last year. If we could somehow stretch our water resources till the onset of monsoon last year, with current stocks, we should be able to survive till monsoon this year as well!

However, two factors need to be kept in mind, first, the population and the number of buildings increase every year so there could be higher water requirement as compared to last year. Secondly, a slight delay in the arrival of monsoon could spell disaster.

Before we take you through the numbers and data, let us first understand the water supply units across the city.

Areas coming under Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are supplied water from Khadakwasla dam project. This project consists of a chain of four interlinked dams, namely, Panshet Dam, Warasgaon Dam, Temghar Dam and Khadakwasla Dam.

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) supplies water to its citizens from Pawana Dam and a few smaller dams.

Many areas in Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park, popularly known as Hinjawadi get their water from the Mula River flowing out of Mulshi Dam.

Of course, there are many other water sources, like smaller dams, underground water from borewells and some smaller streams, but they do not contribute substantially to Pune’s water availability.

Having understood the sources of water for the city, lets now analyze the current water stock against the last year’s stock at the same time to see if we are doing worse or better than the last year.

Pune Municipal Corporation – The collective storage of the dam system supplying water to areas under PMC stands at 269.02 Mcum as against 344.39 Mcum last year, a drop of almost 9.13%.

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation – As mentioned earlier, PCMC fulfills most of its water requirements from Pawana Dam. This dam currently holds 90.34 Mcum water as against 93.49 Mcum last year, signaling a drop of 3%.

Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park (Hinjawadi) – Though there are various other water sources like smaller dams and borewells, most of the large townships and housing societies draw water from Mula river flowing from Mulshi Dam. This dam currently holds 184.44 Mcum water as compared to 168.54 Mcum, which is about 9.44% more.

Analysis – Pune Water Stock 2024

Looking at the comparison of water stock between last year and the current year, it appears that the water sources of PMC are under tremendous stress, given that they down by 9.13% already. Urgent water conservation measures must be adopted in Pune city to ensure water availability till the arrival of monsoon 2024. This situation is further compounded by an extremely harsh summer this year and extrapolative increase in water demand every year. Interesting to note here that Pune Municipal Corporation is the largest corporation by area in the state of Maharashtra.

PCMC is doing slightly better with their water stock down only by 3% as compared to last year but they need to be cautious with their water use as a slight delay in the monsoon can cause tremendous stress on their water resources as well. However, it may be noted that PCMC does not entirely depend on Pawana water, which in any case is not enough for their requirements and have to draw water from other dams like Andhra dam etc.

Finally areas in Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park may not have to worry about the quantity of water as of now, but their biggest concern at this moment is unchecked pollution in their only water source, River Mula! Though Mulshi dam water stock is up by 9.44% as compared to last year, and in addition, it is a large dam and can sustain for a longer period without recharging. However, the river is heavily polluted and with the onset of summer when the freshwater discharge from the dam is reduced, the pollution level rises further, making the river water unfit for drinking.

Having studied the water stock situation across various sources of water for the residents of Pune city, it is imperative that the situation is not alarming as of now. There is no need to panic, but at the same time it is to be kept in mind that Pune city is living on the edge. With increasing population, shrinking monsoons and ever reducing storage capacity of city’s reservoirs due to sedimentation, the situation could quickly get out of control if nothing is done immediately.

We must act now and figure out ways of water conservation, year round as a proactive measure and not a a reactive measure. We must stop water wastage immediately and identify methods of water recycling. If all this is not done, Pune could well be on its way to following Bangalore’s footsteps in terms of water scarcity. Almost all the cities in the world are exploring various water recycling techniques to make the fresh water last as long as possible in the city’s water cycle. Singapore has long been extracting its drinking water from waster water and more cities in the world will need to do that.