Pune: No Water Release From Khadakwasla Into Mutha River For Ganesh Visarjan This Year Amid Rainfall Deficit
Pune, 25th September 2026: The water resources department has decided not to release water from the Khadakwasla dam into the Mutha river for Ganesh visarjan this year, citing poor rainfall and the need to conserve the available water stock amid an emerging water shortage.
Water is released from Khadakwasla every year to facilitate Ganesh idol immersion in the Mutha river. However, rainfall has remained subdued over the past few weeks, with officials attributing the situation partly to the impact of El Nino.
The India Meteorological Department had forecast below-normal rainfall this year due to El Nino and had advised water conservation. Although June and July witnessed heavy rainfall over fewer days, helping the region surpass earlier rainfall records, the rains have largely remained absent since August. Pune received some heavy showers in parts of the city two days ago, but the Khadakwasla dam catchment recorded only 2mm of rainfall, according to the water resources department.
The four dams in the Khadakwasla irrigation project have also not received significant rainfall over the past 10 days. As of now, the combined storage in the four reservoirs stands at 28.14 TMC, or 96.53% of their total capacity. Khadakwasla has 1.03 TMC (51.99%), Panshet 10.58 TMC (99.40%), Varasgaon 12.82 TMC (100%) and Temghar 3.71 TMC (100%).
Khadakwasla project executive engineer Kiran Deshmukh said the available water would have to be carefully managed to meet drinking water requirements in the coming months.
“This year, the situation is akin to a drought. We have to plan to ensure that the water available in Khadakwasla lasts until July next year. With rainfall remaining absent, water is already being released from the dam for drinking purposes. Since this requirement will continue, we will not be able to release water for Ganesh visarjan,” Deshmukh said.
