Only 1% of water samples tested in Pune city was found unfit for consumption as against 26% in Mumbai, an official of the State Public Health Laboratory (SPHL) said here on Wednesday.

Pune: The drought-hit Kamkhera village in Beed taluka is all set to try rainwater harvesting, hoping it would end the dry spell. Half the wells in this village have dried up and villagers here have now invited Pune-based Paranjya to help set up two rainwater harvesting plants.

Paranjya, that has introduced several residential societies in Pune to rainwater harvesting as an effective technique to conserve water, will travel to Beed on May 13 to educate villagers on its benefits.

PUNE: The rising temperature and shrinking water stocks in Marathwada region has forced the authorities to increase water supply by tankers.

As many as 1,875 tankers are supplying drinking water to 1,646 villages and 749 hamlets in Marathwada. A week back, 1,413 villages and 743 hamlets were receiving drinking water from 1,733 tankers. Now 142 additional tankers have been deployed for supplying drinking water to 1,646 villages and 749 hamlets, stated the report of the Marathwada divisional commissionerate.

PUNE: As many as 3,184 villages and 7,650 hamlets are facing severe water shortage in the state, according to the latest report generated by the state government.

About 3,793 tankers are currently supplying drinking water to these villages and hamlets periodically. Most of these villages and hamlets are from eastern part of western Maharashtra and Marathwada.

Residents of Jalna, who are reeling under severe drought, have found a way to beat the perennial water crisis.

Says total of about Rs 7,000 cr-worth loans in 11,809 villages will be restructured

Mumbai: Even as politicians are busy criticizing Ajit Pawar’s jeering comment on drought, water stocks in all the dams in Marathwada touched the lowest level ever on Tuesday.

Going by the information released by the water resources department on Tuesday, stock in all the dams in the entire Marathwada region stood at 8% of the total count, compared to 18% the same day last year and 42% the year before that.

Millions of people in western India are suffering their worst drought in more than four decades, with critics blaming official ineptitude and corruption for exacerbating the natural water shortage.

Its 2,200-strong populace is gambling on monsoon this year, spending every last paisa on water

As Marathwada’s groundwater table plummets to 500 ft, farmers here, as in other districts, are freely violating the law in a frantic bid to strike water. Mahadeo Mule has invested Rs. 1 lakh during the past five months to save his crops and livestock, drilling at five different points on his land, despite already having a borewell. He has also spent close to Rs. 35,000 on water from private tankers.

This summer, people in southern Maharashtra can enjoy either electricity or water, not both. Until recently, the state had prioritised use of water for industrial purposes over agriculture.

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