Gondia’s six major dams have reached a combined 85% of their live storage capacity, offering improved irrigation security for farmers even as several other parts of Vidarbha face rainfall-related water stress. Five reservoirs in the district are at 85% or more, according to data recorded by district officials on Sunday morning.
Sanjay Sarovar, Gondia’s largest dam, and Itiadoh are both at 100% of live storage. Sanjay Sarovar has a live capacity of 410 million cubic metres (MCM), while Itiadoh can hold 317.87 MCM. Sirpur and Kalisarar are at 98% each, and Pujaritola is at 85%.
Itiadoh is continuing to overflow, with its water level recorded at 255.63 metres, three centimetres above its full reservoir level of 255.60 metres. The dam site has received 1,139mm of rainfall since June 1. Sirpur has recorded 1,074mm and Kalisarar 1,035mm during the same period.
The storage position has been supported by heavy rainfall in neighbouring Chhattisgarh over the past week, along with persistent cloud cover in Gondia. Rainfall across the district’s eight talukas has ranged from 894.6mm in Tirora to 1,327.4mm in Deori this monsoon.
The main exception is Rajiv Sagar, also known as Bawanthadi, which holds only 32% of its live storage. The reservoir has 81.63 MCM against 246.03 MCM at the same point last year, a shortfall of about 164 MCM. Its live capacity is 254.69 MCM and its gross capacity is 280.24 MCM.
Rajiv Sagar’s catchment is largely located in Madhya Pradesh, where rainfall has been deficient, making its storage dependent on conditions beyond Gondia’s administrative boundary. The reservoir accounts for almost the entire difference between this year’s combined storage and last year’s level.
Across the six dams, gross capacity is 1,426.9 MCM, equivalent to 50.4 thousand million cubic feet. Total live storage is 1,028.6 MCM, compared with 1,196.2 MCM last year. The current figure represents about 85% of the combined live capacity of 1,211.9 MCM, against nearly 99% last year.
The reservoirs supply irrigation water not only to Gondia but also to neighbouring Gadchiroli and Bhandara. Ketan Girhepunje, a section engineer at Itiadoh, said the district’s dams are used mainly for irrigation. At Itiadoh, about 99% of stored water is allocated to irrigation and around 1% to drinking water, with no industrial supply, he said.
Canals at Rajiv Sagar released 3.705 MCM in the 24 hours before the data was recorded. Releases from Pujaritola and Itiadoh during the same period were 2.68 MCM and 0.815 MCM respectively.
River levels remained below warning thresholds in the reported readings. The Wainganga at Deori stood at 266.30 metres against a warning level of 277 metres, while the Bagh at Rajegaon was at 274.81 metres against a warning level of 282 metres.