Jayakwadi Dam at 100 pc capacity; water release into Godavari riverbed

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Jayakwadi Dam (Paithan) reached its full capacity at 6 pm on Saturday, leading to the opening of 10 out of 27 gates and the release of 5,240 cusecs of water into the Godavari Riverbed.

Heavy rainfall occurred in the dam area on Friday night and Saturday morning, resulting in an inflow of 5,639 cusecs of water. With substantial water storage already in the dam, the additional inflow filled it to 100 pc capacity. Consequently, 5,240 cusecs of water were released from the dam by opening the gates. So far, this year, approximately 21.7 TMC of water has been released into the Godavari from this dam.

In the past 60 years, the dam (Nath Sagar) has reached full capacity 14 times. According to executive engineer Prashant Jadhav, “ The present storage will alleviate drinking water issues for villages and towns dependent on the dam for the next two years and also address irrigation needs for this year.”

Irrigation for 1.82 lakh hectares

The dam will provide irrigation for 41,000 hectares of land via the right canal and 141,000 hectares via the left canal. Water management for irrigation will be planned soon on farmers' requests, with the administration scheduling 3 water supply rounds for the rabi season and 4 for the summer, said Jadhav.