55 tankers supply water to 50 villages in rural Nashik

Nashik: Parts of rural Nashik district are grappling with acute water scarcity, prompting the administration to deploy 55 tankers to supply water to 50 villages and 112 hamlets.According to official data, the drought this year has surpassed previous records in severity, with tanker deployment nearly doubling from 30 on the same date last year. The entire operation is currently being handled by private tankers, with no govt vehicles in service, supplying water to 97,841 residents.The worst-affected area is Yeola taluka, where 19 tankers are serving 23 villages and 8 hamlets. Igatpuri has 11 tankers covering 39 locations, while Malegaon taluka requires 9 tankers for 36 affected areas. To sustain the supply, the administration has secured 21 wells across the district.Despite the crisis, dam storage levels are relatively better than last year. The 26 major and medium dams in the district currently hold 44% of their total capacity of 70.6 TMC, with usable stock at 31.28 TMC. On the same date last year, storage stood at 23.2 TMC (33%). In the Gangapur dam complex, storage is at 5.7 TMC (55.6% capacity). Darna and Mukane reservoirs hold 3.66 TMC and 3.79 TMC respectively, while the Girna dam which is the largest in the region has 7.34 TMC, or 39.7% of its useful capacity.