Panvel: Facing a severe summer water crisis, the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) has announced 24-hour weekly water cuts from Monday after the Dehrang dam, the city’s primary local reservoir, entered dead storage conditions. Nearly two lakh residents in the old Panvel area and nearby villages dependent on the reservoir will be affected by the rationing.Panvel to face weekly water cuts from Monday as city reservoir hits dead storageAccording to PMC officials, the remaining water stock is likely to last only till May 31. A ward-wise shutdown schedule has been introduced to stretch the available supply, though Sundays have been exempted for now.“The available storage in Dehrang dam has reduced substantially due to evaporation. The reservoir has effectively entered dead storage conditions, and the remaining water is expected to last till the end of May,” said Vilas Chavan, deputy engineer, water supply department, PMC.Constructed in 1964, the Dehrang dam normally supplies around 12 MLD of water, but due to summer evaporation the output has now fallen to just 5-6 MLD - a fraction of Panvel’s daily requirement of 32 to 35 MLD.To meet the deficit, the PMC is sourcing 15 MLD from Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) and 5 MLD from MIDC. Officials said the situation remains difficult as water storage at Morbe dam has also dipped below 20%.“We are also managing with tankers. Everything currently depends on how early pre-monsoon rainfall arrives,” Chavan added.Ironically, Dehrang had overflowed unusually early last May following pre-monsoon showers. Officials admit overall infrastructure augmentation has failed to keep pace with Panvel’s rapid urban expansion over the past decade.Across Panvel, the widening supply gap has pushed residents to the brink. “We get very low-pressure supply, sometimes only for a short duration. Many buildings now depend on private tankers every alternate day,” said Prakash Patil, a resident of old Panvel.“The situation at Takka is bad. Drums are out to store water. In some areas, even tankers have not arrived for days,” added resident Prashant Jadhav.Recognizing the shortfall, the The civic body recently approved a ₹10-crore proposal for emergency drinking water tankers for water-stressed areas over the next three years.The growing desperation has also triggered political pressure. PMC opposition leader Arvind Mhatre said a planned residents’ protest was temporarily postponed after minister Ganesh Naik assured representatives that a special meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would be convened on the issue.Meanwhile, the civic body has floated a ₹115.48-crore augmentation project that includes a new 1,100-mm transmission pipeline from the dam to Panvel, a 70-MLD water purification plant and a 9.40-MLD storage reservoir.Officials said long-term projects such as monsoon overflow capture and the proposed Shilar-Dehrang interlinking project are also being explored to improve the city’s water security.