Pune: The Zilla Parishad (ZP) is preparing a detailed action plan to tackle possible water scarcity in rural parts of the district owing to scanty rainfall. A slew of measures were discussed at a meeting held at ZP headquarters on Wednesday, with a focus on judicious use of water from all sources and stricter monitoring to avoid wastage.The ZP administration will be issuing instructions to the departments concerned to keep a close watch on illegal lifting of water from percolation ponds, wells and also from irrigation canals. The administration has decided to take stock of water storage every week and also prepare a list of long- and short-term measures.Sources from ZP told TOI that although the dams in the district hold fairly good stock at the moment, many areas have not received good spells of rainfall in the last one month. The most affected areas are from Indapur, Baramati, Purandar and Daund. All these pockets will now have to depend on water sources like local wells, percolation ponds, lakes and irrigation canals.Water levels in some percolation ponds in these areas have already dropped due to a long break in rainfall. Against the backdrop of a likely increase in demand in the coming days ahead of rabi sowing, the ZP administration is preparing a plan to handle the situation.“We often see that local residents draw water from percolation ponds by installing motors and laying pipelines. We will be keeping an eye on such activities as there is no permission to draw water from some ponds,” an official said, choosing anonymity.Meanwhile, officials from the irrigation department said that they will intensify monitoring along canals. Mutha canal supplies water to rural parts of Indapur, Daund and Haveli from Khadakwasla dam. Some lakes and ponds in these areas receive water through the canal. Officials said that the water release is likely to be stopped after all ponds reach their full capacities.The collective stock in four dams stood at 28.1 TMC (96%) on Wednesday, almost one TMC less than last year’s stock.
