Irrigation department orders water cuts in Thane district

Mumbai: In addition to scorching temperatures, lakhs of residents in Thane district will have to endure more hardship as the irrigation department has ordered a 22 per cent water cut every week in industrial areas of the district from October 21 owing to water scarcity.  Water supply will be shut for one day in a week for Kalyan-Dombivali, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Badlapur.

The situation arose due to poor rainfall in September, said an official of the irrigation department. Though enough water is available in the dams in the districts, its usage is being carefully rationed till July 31, 2019. Considering evaporation losses and other factors, the irrigation department has taken a review of the water stock in dams, which is less compared to last year’s.

So, the irrigation department asked the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corpora-tion (MIDC) and all corporations that are involved in the Temghar project among others about water cuts. Due to the 22 per cent water cuts, the supply of water will be shut for one day in a week.

Thousands of industries will suffer due to the water cuts until the next monsoon, and small and medium-scale industries in the belt may suffer financial losses due to scaled-down production, said a senior officer.

He added, “We don’t have other option as not much rainfall occurred in September.”