CONTEXT :

• 26 reservoirs in Maharashtra have reached “zero storage” as on May 18, according to statistics put out by the Water Conservation department of the state government. The department’s website informed that water storage in Aurangabad Division, which comprises Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Parbhani and Osmanabad districts, was 0.43 per cent as against 23.44 per cent at the same time last year.

BACKGROUND :

• The dams in these division are Paithan, Manjara, Majalgaon, Yeldari, Siddeshwar, Lower Terna, Sina Kolegaon and Lower Dhudna, all of which have zero storage at the moment, the department informed. The storage in these dams in May last year was 34.95 per cent in Paithan, 21.24 per cent in Manjara, 17.5 per cent in Majalgaon and 52.03 per cent in Lower Terna.
• Other dams that have hit the zero storage level as on May 18 are Kadakpurna and Pentakli in Buldhana, Gosikhurd, Dina and Nand in Nagpur Division, Upper Tapi Hathnur in Jalgaon, Waki, Bham, Bhavli and Punegaon in Nashik Division, Dibhe, Ghod, Pimpalgaon Joge, Wadaj and Temghar in Pune, Bhima, Kundali Tata and Lonavala Tata in Solapur, it informed.
• Meanwhile, Tisgaon dam in Nashik and Totladoh in Nagpur have 0.01 and 0.08 per cent water respectively. It said water storage in the state’s 103 large, medium and small reservoirs stood at 11.84 per cent, against 23.73 per cent last year.