‘Took 18 years to convince MP about natural tank at Tapi’

If the superintendent engineer for the Tapi irrigation project is to be believed, it took him nearly 18 years to convince scientists and officials from Madhya Pradesh that water three times the capacity of the Jayakwadi dam could be stored underground at the Tapi basin.

This, he said, was possible because of the natural fault in the Satpura hill range which could act as a water tank.

Vasant D. Patil was the superintendent engineer at the Tapi Irrigation Development Corporation (TIDC), whose brainchild is the Mega Water Recharge project.

The journey of Mega Water Recharge started way back in 1999 when the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) undertook a study of the banana producing areas in Yawal district of Jalgaon and published a report namely ‘Artificial Recharge to Ground Water in Banana Growing Areas’.

“The report concluded that there is a possibility of undertaking a mega artificial recharge project in the Bazada formation in the Satpura foothills,” said Mr Patil.

Mr Patil who is currently serving as the Nagpur divisional state information commissioner said officials from TIDC along with a scientist from the

CGWB conducted an in-depth study of the rocks. “We did a geological study, took photographs from a helicopter, conducted aerial sonography and ultrasound tests with high-quality equipment of the Satpura range. After the study, we came to the conclusion that the fault was created at the time of earth’s formation,” he said.

Mr Patil said a fault was nothing but the gap between rocks and it could be measured by its porosity. Water or any fluid can move through such porous rocks. “We calculated that at least 300 TMC water could be stored within the Satpura hills. But when we tried to convince the officials and scientists of the MP government, they treated us as fools,” said Mr Patil.

“Scientists from MP were not even aware about the CGWB report and its recommendation about mega recharge. When we told them that MP would benefit more from it without losing land or forests, and showed them CGWB report, then they got convinced,” said Mr Patil.