Published On : Mon, May 22nd, 2017

Its Alarming: Gorewada Lake level drops to its lowest at 312.69 meter

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Nagpur: Its alarming!!!…. The water level of Gorewada Lake has dropped to its lowest mark of 312.69 mtr, which is lowest ever drop in the lake this year because of recently occurred major power outages at Navegao- Khairi pumping station, first occurred on May 14 (for almost 12 hours ) and another on May 18 (for 3 hours). Following which water from Gorewada Lake has been used for treatment and supplied to 60 % per cent areas in city.

It may be mentioned here, earlier the Gorewada Lake Reservoir used to provide raw water for treatment to Pench-1, Pench-2 & Pench-3 WTP at Gorewada for Nagpur city. The raw water used to travel from Navegaon Khairi
dam located 45-km away from Nagpur, to Mahadula pumping house via Right Bank Canal (RBC) then to Gorewada Lake and then lifted in WTP’s for treatment.

However, after the commissioning of a direct pipeline (instead of RBC) , raw water comes from from Navegaon-Khairi dam to Pench I, Pench-II and Pench III Water treatment plants through a Break Pressure Tank (BPT). Now a days , the Gorewada Lake itself has become storage reservoir (“Water Bank”) in case of any emergency at Navegaon Khairi.

It means, in present system the raw water pumping station at Navegaon -Khairy Headworks pumps water directly to the major water treatment plants in city like Pench –IV WTP at Godhani and Pench-1, Pench-2, Pench-3 while 16 MLD Old Gorewada WTP is only dependent on Gorewada Lake.

Normally , if the water level in the Gorewada Lake is maintained at around 315.0 meter (from Main Sea Level) , then in case of complete shutdown at Navegaon Khairy Headworks (Pumping Station), the WTP’s can operate at normal capacity for seven to eight days and 60 % Nagpur including West, Central, South and North Nagpur can be provided sufficient water.

However, on 14th May, 2017 there was a major electrical failure at Navegaon-Khairy Headworks which lasted almost 12 Hrs. The raw water to Pench-IV WTP was completely stopped and since the Gorewada lake level dropped to its critical level due to which even the Pench-1, Pench-2 & Pench-3 WTP at Gorewada received less than required raw water for treatment. The same was repeated on May 18, 2017 for 3 hours.

There was substantial adverse impact on the water supply in two thirds of the city area i.e South and North Nagpur because of the Navegaon- Khairi shutdown..

Experts in water industry informed that today the lake level is extremely critical @ 312.69m and incase of any shutdown (like 14 May shutdown) at Navegaon-Khairy Headworks , almost two thirds 60 % of the city area will become dry.

As the water level in Gorewada lake is critically low, any further shutdown at Navegaon Khairi Headworks will adversely affect the water supply leading to water scarcity in entire city, experts added.

Despite that OCW and NMC experts are trying their level best to minimize the inconvenience to the citizens by properly managing the bulk water supply system, but it must be mentioned here in case of any further shutdown at Navegao Khairi pumping station and no water in Gorewada Lake at such situation water supply likely to be adversely affected in future. NMC-OCW appealed people to co-operate.

Post Navegaon-Kahiri: Tanker water supply in network areas also affected

Following major power failure that occurred at Navegaon Khairi raw water pumping station Head Works on May 14 (for 12 hours) , located at Navegaon Khari, around 45 km from Nagpur , not only the Water supply in almost 60 per cent city areas especially from West, Central, South and North Nagpur remained affected on Sunday, May 14, 2017, however the Tankers supply was also got severely affected in network areas of North and South Nagpur.

After heavy efforts from Orange City Water, now since last two/3 days the water supply through Tankers is being streamlined and normalised in all areas. Despite that OCW appealed and requested people dependent on water supply through Tankers to co-operate.