Rising concern: Ukai dam left with just 10% water

Surat: Ukai dam is left with just 650 million cubic meters (MCM) of water. The dam has capacity to store 6,500 MCM of water. Ukai dam authorities expect fresh water to flow into the reservoir by June-end. The dam was just 62 per cent full at the end of monsoon in 2017.

The rains are yet to arrive in Tapi river basin of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (MP), but the dam authorities are not worried. Since 2013, fresh water inflow into the dam has begun only in the first week of June .

Sandip Mahakal, superintending engineer, irrigation circle, Surat, said, “The earliest that we received fresh water inflow in Ukai dam was in 2017. The dam began to receive water from June 12 in 2017. Normally, we have been receiving fresh water into Ukai dam only after June 15. In 2014, we got fresh water on July 20, but the dam had sufficient water to meet the drinking water and irrigation supply needs even for some days in the next year.”

“We have already finished supply of irrigation water until the next season. The quantity of water in the dam is sufficient to meet the city’s requirement. We supply just 525 MCM of water in a year for drinking purposes and industrial use,” Mahakal said.

India Meteorological Department says that the monsoon is likely to set on western and central parts of India only after June 20. If this forecast comes true, then the fresh water inflow into Ukai Dam is likely to begin by June-end, which is a normal phenomenon.


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