Nagpur: City’s water security is coming under increasing pressure, with Totladoh reservoir losing 65.63 million cubic metres (MCM) of live storage in just 10 days.Water Resources Department (WRD) data shows the reservoir’s live storage fell from 520.55 MCM on Oct 5 to 454.92 MCM on Oct 15, raising concerns over water availability through summer 2027.The depletion works out to an average of 6.56 MCM daily. Totladoh’s live storage declined from 51.19% to 44.73% of its designed live capacity of 1,016.93 MCM during the period. On Oct 15 last year, the reservoir held 99.68% of its designed live storage, highlighting the sharp year-on-year deficit.Nagpur currently receives around 740 million litres per day (MLD) of treated water. Of this, 520 MLD comes from Totladoh through the Pench system, while 220 MLD is drawn from Kanhan river. Apart from NMC, which is a major consumer, a senior WRD official told TOI that there are 15 other govt agencies including power stations, municipal councils, nagar panchayats and gram panchayats withdrawing water from Totladoh reservoir.The situation is compounded by declining storage in Kamthi Khairy reservoir. Its live storage fell from 112.14 MCM on Oct 5 to 101.06 MCM on Oct 15, a depletion of 11.08 MCM in 10 days. Storage declined from 78.98% to 71.18% of its designed live capacity.Other reservoirs in the Nagpur region have also recorded declines. Between Oct 5 and 15, Khindsi’s live storage fell from 71.04 MCM to 57.68 MCM, Nand’s from 45.61 MCM to 41.08 MCM, and Wadgaon’s from 80.48 MCM to 74.92 MCM.Although the state has reserved water for drinking purposes until August 2027, the current storage and depletion trends raise serious questions about Nagpur’s water security through the coming summer. At the recent rate of depletion, Totladoh’s live storage would theoretically last around 69 days and Kamthi Khairy’s around 91 days. However, these are mathematical projections, not definitive forecasts, as actual reservoir levels will depend on planned releases, fresh inflows and irrigation requirements, said a source.With Totladoh supplying around 70% of Nagpur’s daily water requirement, the challenge will be to manage available stocks carefully until the next monsoon replenishes the reservoirs.
