Summer is still a long way off, but Rajkot is already on the edge of facing water crisis. The rain bounty of 2022 does not seem to have helped matters as the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has requested the state government to provide around 1,300 million cubic feet (MCFT) of water under the Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation (SAUNI) Yojna in 2023. The civic body has asked the state to provide half of this quantity of water by mid-February.
According to the official data, Rajkot city received 863 mm of rainfall last year, which is 105 percent of its average annual rainfall. According to experts, the only storage sources of water for the city are Aji, Nyari and Bhadar dams. Nyari-2 dam is not used for water storage as filthy water is released into this dam and water from Bhadar is reserved for the district.
RMC distributes water for 20 minutes per day and the total distribution is around 360 million litres per day (MLD). According to RMC sources, the water requirement has increased as several new areas have been merged with the civic body.
The civic body was distributing 280 MLD in 2020 which increased to 360 MLD. According to sources, 603 MCFT water is available in Aji dam at present, which will reduce to around 240 MCFT by mid-February looking at the current offtake.
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