Water Watch: Water supply in Beed, Maharashtra [Jul 2019]

Percentage of Beed’s estimated 22 lakh residents live in villages and have rainfall-dependent agriculture as their main source of livelihood.

Water needs of Beed city each day. But authorities are able to provide just 19-20 MLD of water. Officials acknowledged the city is now dependent on private water suppliers.

Rainfall deficit in 2018, according to the India Meteorological Department. The district gets an annual average rainfall of 666.36 mm. It received around 334.70 mm rainfall during the 2018 monsoon. Insufficient rains have meant inadequate recharge of groundwater and other sources.

Depth to which borewells in the city have to be reached in order to pump groundwater. Residents have to pump for around half-an-hour to get 10-12 litres of water from hand pumps.

Average groundwater level depletion across 943 villages, according to the Ground Water Survey and Development Agency. All the 11 talukas in Beed district showed groundwater depletion by March-end according to the agency.

Number of tankers pressed into service to supply drinking water to 13.61 lakh residents in Beed district. Tehsil wise numbers: Ashti (170), tehsil limits of Beed (147), Georai (128) and Shirur (114). Includes 12 villages and 4 hamlets.

Rise in the number of patients suffering from diarrhoea, gastritis etc. over the last 1.5 months, according to Dr Sandeep Deshmukh, a general physician at the Beed Civil Hospital.