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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Maharashtra cities get 400% more water than villages -Priyanka Kakodkar

Maharashtra cities get 400% more water than villages -Priyanka Kakodkar

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published Published on Nov 23, 2015   modified Modified on Nov 23, 2015
-The Times of India

MUMBAI: Nearly 55% of Maharashtra's population lives in its rural belt compared to 45% in its urban areas. Yet its cities and metros get almost five times more drinking water as its villages from the state's dams, notified rivers and select lakes.

The data which reveals the stark rural-urban divide in the allocation of drinking water has been compiled by the state's water resources department. In urban areas, the annual reservation for drinking water is 4,843 million cubic metres.By contrast, in rural areas, it is only 1,033 million cubic metres, the data shows. In effect, urban areas can access 4.7 times more drinking water than the rural belt from these water sources. The inequity is policy driven and flows from norms set by the government. Urban areas are entitled to 135-150 litres of water per person per day , depending on the population. Rural areas are entitled to just 40-70 litres per person per day.

Officials say the norms assume that people living in villages have access to other sources of drinking water like wells and tube-wells which tap ground-water.However, critics say in arid regions like Marathwada these options are fast evaporating.
The rural-urban disparity is all the more unjust when you consider that the bulk of dams are based in rural areas, experts say. "The catchment area is most dams is in rural areas but the bulk of dam water is supplied to cities," points out water expert Pradeep Purandare, former member of the Marathwada Development Board.

"Even worse, cities use the water and return it in a polluted form to rivers," he adds.

However, others point out the logic of the additional entitlement to urban areas. "It's a fact that urban areas get much more water the rural belt. But in urban areas, nearly 40% of water supplied is lost in leakages because it comes through a dense, underground pipeline network. In the rural areas, the supply is largely external and there is less leakage," says Prof Vijay Paranjpye, chairman of the Gomukh Trust."Also, urban areas use more water in their flush tanks and sewerage system," he adds.

The data also reveals which regions get the bulk of Maharashtra's drinking water. In urban areas, the Konkan division which includes Mumbai has the largest annual reservation of 1,849 million cubic metres. The urban belt of Western Maharashtra which includes the city of Pune follows next with 1,172 million cubic metres. The cities of North Maharashtra which include Nashik has an annual reservation of 695 million cubic metres while Marathwada which includes Aurangabad has 540 million cubic metres.

The Nagpur revenue division gets 316 million cubic metres while the Amravati division gets 270 million cubic metres.

In the rural belt, Western Maharashtra gets the bulk of drinking water from the state's dams.It has an annual reservation of 438.75 million cubic metres.North Maharashtra follows next with an annual reservation of 304 million cubic metres. Rural Konkan gets the least water from dams with an annual reservation of 38.40 million cubic metres.



The Times of India, 23 November, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Maharashtra-cities-get-400-more-water-than-villages/articleshow/49886861.cms


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