The water storage in eleven major irrigation projects in Marathwada region of central Maharashtra stood at a woefully low 20.14 percent, while two reservoirs have already run dry.

Maharashtra Water Crisis: As many as 11 major reservoirs in the arid Marathwada region of central Maharashtra are at the risk of running dry as the water storage in these irrigation projects has fallen to alarming low-levels due to low average rainfall, raising fears of an impending water crisis.

According to an official report published Tuesday, the water storage in eleven major irrigation projects in Marathwada region stood at a woefully low 20.14 percent, while two reservoirs– the Sina Kolegaon reservoir in Dharashiv and Majalgaon reservoir in Beed district– have already run dry, with storage at zero level at the end of July.

Officials have attributed the water shortage to the low average rainfall which the region has received so far this year.

They said the Marathwada region has only received 59.6 percent of the average rainfall between June and September, adding the rainfall has been much more scant in the main catchment areas of the Godavari valley.

Meanwhile. on Tuesday, the Jayakwadi Dam on the Godavari in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, the biggest dam in the region, had only 7.23 percent of water storage, far less that than 30.93 percent on the same day last year. Jayakwadi has so far received inflow of 127 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) of water.

Here are the project-wise water storage in various reservoirs in Marathwada:

• Jayakwadi (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) 7.23 percent
• Nimn Dudhana (Parbhani) 8.14 percent
• Yeldari (Parbhani) 31.31 percent
• Siddheshwar (Hingoli) 24.82 percent
• Majalgaon (Beed) zero, Manjara (Beed) 1.37 percent
• Penganga (Nanded) 43.67 percent
• Manar (Nanded) 49.37 percent
• Nimn Terna (Dharashiv) 27.60 percent
• Vishnupuri (Nanded) 88.46 percent
• Sina Kolegaon (Dharashiv) zero percent

According to the report, the Vishnupuri dam on the Godavari river in Nanded district has 88.46 percent stock, against 62.82 percent on the same day last year. However, no other dam-reservoir in the region is even half full.

Majalgaon and Sina Kolegaon projects have dead storage (below zero percent) though they received inflows of 19.10 MCM and 7.19 MCM since June 1.

(With inputs from agencies)