The water crisis is real with several states in India facing water shortage on a daily basis. This time it’s Marathwada region in the district of Maharashtra that is severely affected by drought, a data that is released by the irrigation department on Friday.
The storage in dams such as Manjara and Majalgaon in Beed, Siddheshwar in Hingoli, Lower Terna and Sina Kolegaon in Osmanabad, Lower Dudhna in Parbhani are still in dead storage due to scanty rainfall in the state.
Many dams have been affected out of which nine major and 800 medium and small irrigation projects in Marathwada. The report from the irrigation department states that the major projects in the region are in a slightly better position with 56.47 percent storage, compared to 30.49 percent last year.
The major projects in the region hold up to a total of 3828.65 million cubic meters (mcm) water whereas on the other hand, the scenario with medium size projects seems bleak. Medium projects in Marathwada have 317.19 mcm water, which is 21.06 percent of their total capacity. It was 24.25 percent last year.
“Excess use of water for sugarcane cultivation has always been the primary cause for the shortage every year. However, this time around, it is the scanty rainfall that has kept most of the projects dry,” water expert Purandare said.