The Khadakwasla Project will not release its summer irrigation rotation this year, as water in its four reservoirs is being reserved for drinking purposes amid drought conditions, Pune District Collector Jitendra Dudi has said. The decision is expected to affect irrigation across approximately 2.5 lakh hectares in Pune district’s Purandar, Daund, Baramati, Indapur and Haveli talukas.
The four reservoirs of the Khadakwasla Project have a combined storage capacity of about 29 thousand million cubic feet (TMC). Although all four reservoirs were filled during the monsoon, the available water is now being prioritised for drinking water supply to Pune city and the five talukas that depend on the project for drinking and irrigation needs.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Collector Dudi after the state government issued instructions that available water should be used for drinking purposes in view of drought conditions. The cancellation means farmers will not receive the summer canal rotation that was provided in the previous water year.
The project has already released water through the canal system for the current agricultural cycle. The rabi rotation began on September 25 and is scheduled to continue for 45 days, with releases of approximately 1,100 cusecs a day. About 4 TMC of water is expected to be supplied during this rotation.
The decision follows substantial releases earlier in the year. Around 19 TMC of excess water was discharged from the Mutha river during the monsoon after heavy rain in the catchment areas. At the same time, water was released through the canal system. Before the rabi rotation began, approximately 6.38 TMC had been released through the canals. The water benefited kharif crops in the four talukas, where rainfall was lower.
The previous year’s release pattern shows the scale of the irrigation supply that will now be unavailable. In 2025, a 15-day kharif rotation supplied about 400 million cubic feet of water. The rabi rotation ran from December 9 to February 10, 2026, for 64 days and released approximately 3.77 TMC. The first summer rotation ran from February 17 to May 11 for 84 days, although it was suspended for nine days after a canal breach near Hadapsar. It released 6.97 TMC and supported irrigation across approximately 2.5 lakh hectares.
A second summer rotation ran from May 12 to June 13 for 33 days and released 3.40 TMC. Together, the two summer rotations used 10.35 TMC of water. Those releases will not be repeated this year because the administration has decided to protect the remaining supply for drinking-water requirements.
The Khadakwasla system therefore faces a conflict between its urban and agricultural responsibilities: the same reservoirs supply Pune city while also supporting farms across a wide area east and south of the city. The immediate next step is the completion of the 45-day rabi rotation, after which the project’s water availability will determine how the remaining supply is managed under the state government’s drinking-water priority directions.
