Baramati water shortage concerns have intensified after former corporator Subhash Dhole urged the municipal council to take immediate measures to prevent supply disruptions, citing reduced rainfall, rising summer heat and the possible influence of El Niño. Dhole submitted the demand to municipal president Sachin Satav, according to a report by Sakal – Pune.
Baramati’s water supply depends largely on the Nira Left Bank Canal. The city currently has four storage reservoirs with a combined capacity of about 855 million litres. This stock can support approximately 20 to 30 days of water supply, but any delay in canal water reaching the city could disrupt distribution, the memorandum said.
The report also noted that residents had already faced supply every alternate day on one or two occasions in June. That experience has raised concern about the city’s ability to manage the coming period if canal releases are delayed or available storage falls more quickly than expected.
Dhole’s memorandum has pointed to two incomplete or pending storage projects as immediate opportunities to increase the city’s water buffer. Work on a proposed reservoir beside the existing storage facility at Jaloochi, near the city, remains incomplete. A separate reservoir planned in the Nagadewasti area of Tandulwadi has a capacity of around 150 million litres, but its work is still pending.
According to the memorandum, completing both projects on priority could increase available storage by around 325 million litres and allow the city to continue supplying water for an additional 10 days. The figure includes the capacity expected from the pending Tandulwadi reservoir and the proposed facility at Jaloochi, although the report does not provide a completion schedule or updated construction status for either project.
The memorandum has also proposed operational measures to reduce dependence on canal timing. At the medium-sized storage reservoir, mechanical gates should be installed in line with a concept associated with the irrigation department. Such gates could allow stored water to be used after a canal rotation ends, according to the demand.
Other suggestions include keeping more than 200 city borewells in working condition and removing silt from five old public wells. The memorandum further called for preventing water wastage during the lining of private borewells, wells and other water sources.
The proposals place the immediate focus on three parts of Baramati’s water system: increasing storage, maintaining backup sources and improving control over water already held in reservoirs. The supplied report does not indicate whether the municipal council has accepted the proposals, announced an implementation plan or issued a response to the memorandum. The next key step is therefore the municipal administration’s decision on the pending reservoir works and the proposed contingency measures.
