The concern is particularly acute for Parbhani district, located at the tail-end of the Jayakwadi command area
Abhijit Dhanorkar, water rights activist and president of the Bhagirath Pani Parishad, said the proposed Vaitarna-Mukane-Jayakwadi link was the real solution, as it could bring an additional 10-12 TMC of water into the basin.
Former irrigation department official Jaisingh Hire said river-linking projects must precede the Water Grid. Water release for irrigation needs is, however, bound to get curtailed,” Hire said. “The grid’s pipelines will be useful only if there is assured water to carry through them,” he said. The project requires only a saddle dam with gates between Upper Vaitarna and Mukane and could be completed within one to two years, according to Dhanorkar. He said work on the river link and the Water Grid pipeline network should proceed simultaneously rather than sequentially. Once protected, the water could be lifted from Jayakwadi and routed through the Majalgaon, Manjra and Lower Terna projects to supply drinking and industrial water to Beed, Dharashiv and Latur, he said. He said final approval to the Water Grid project should be granted only after provisions for parallel implementation of the river-linking project and legal protection of additional water are incorporated into the Detailed Project Report.
“In such a scenario, the water release from Jayakwadi dam for drinking and irrigation needs will not be affected. He warned that if the grid drew water from Jayakwadi’s storage, Parbhani’s irrigation would be severely hit and farming could collapse. The proposal involves diverting monsoon surplus from Vaitarna river, which currently flows into Arabian Sea, to Mukane dam and subsequently into Godavari basin and Jayakwadi reservoir.