PUNE: As once-a-week water cuts begin on Thursday, residents are worried whether normal water pressure will be restored by Friday morning or remain disrupted until Saturday.The weekly shutdown comes barely months after all five dams supplying Pune were brimming at 100% capacity in July, when nearly 19 TMC of surplus water was released from Khadakwasla dam into Mutha river. But a weak spell of rain through Aug and Sept changed the equation, forcing Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to impose a 10% cut in water supply across the city, including the merged areas.
Sources in PMC and the irrigation department said the Thursday water cuts were expected to continue till summer. In neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad, residents are already grappling with alternate-day water supply, while PCMC is yet to decide whether additional restrictions will be necessary.The civic administration estimates that the weekly shutdown will help save water equivalent to nearly 40 days of Pune’s requirement. “If continued for the next nine months, the Thursday cuts could conserve over 2.1 TMC of water,” an official said.The residents, however, said conservation should not mean unreliable restoration. For many, the real struggle starts once taps are turned back on. Across neighbourhoods, three complaints come up repeatedly — long delays in service returning, weak water pressure and supply schedules that rarely hold.“We are already getting water at low pressure. Now every Thursday there will be a complete shutdown, which will have a cascading effect till Friday,” Mundhwa resident Atul Lonkar said, urging water supply officials to conduct field visits and assess the ground reality.Aditi Tupe from Vishrantwadi echoed the concern. According to her, after every water closure, restoring supply to normal capacity takes almost a day. “This should not take more than three to four hours,” she said.PMC water supply chief Nandkishor Jagtap said pumping operations at all waterworks and overhead tanks would resume on Friday morning to ensure water reached the distribution network quickly. “Our teams will monitor water flow in every zone and take corrective measures wherever required,” he said.The urgency behind the cuts is reflected in reservoir figures. The combined water stock in the four major dams serving Pune stood at 25.8 TMC on Wednesday, about 3.1 TMC lower than the 29 TMC recorded on the same day last year.
