Maharashtra rains: Storage of Jayakwadi dam rises to 95 per cent, alert sounded

Aurangabad, Aug 18: The storage of the Jayakwadi dam in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has gone up to 95.65 per cent as water continues to rise in it due to rains in nearby areas, officials said on Thursday.

An alert has been sounded in 16 villages located nearby along the banks of the Godavari river on which the dam in located, Paithan tehsildar (revenue official) Dattatreya Nilawad told PTI.

"Unless the discharge reaches one lakh cubic foot per second (cusecs), there is no harm to villages located on the river banks. We are keeping a close watch and will take necessary steps if the water level rises further," he said.

The Jayakwadi dam supplies water to Aurangabad city, Jalna and other neighbouring towns.

Water discharge from the dam also went up to 77,056 cusecs on Thursday as against 47,760 cusecs on Wednesday, an irrigation department official said.

Its water inflow rose to 70,240 cusecs on Thursday compared to 36,425 cusecs on Wednesday morning.

Hence, 18 gates of the dam were lifted to a height of four feet for water discharge, the official said.