DRINKING WATER SOURCES OF SOLAPUR
The Solapur District was ruled by various dynasties such as Andhrabhratyas, Chalukyas, Rashtrkutas, Yadavas and Bahamanis. 'SOLAPUR' is believed to be derived from two words 'SOLA' meaning sixteen and 'PUR' meaning village. The present city of Solapur extends over sixteen villages. Solapur district is one of the four districts that make up the region of western Maharashtra. It is the fourth largest district in Maharashtra in terms of land area and seventh largest in terms of population and as an important junction on the central railroad line. According to the 2011 census, approximately 1.1 million people live in the city of Solapur.
The city of Solapur is the capital of the Solapur district. The district covers an area of about 14,895 square kilometers. It is located on the south eastern edge of the state and lies entirely in the Bhima and Seena basins, which accounts for 4.82% of the total area of Maharashtra state. Of the total area of the district, 339 square kilometers (2.28%) is urban area, while the remaining 14,505 square kilometers (97.72%) is rural area. The land use area of Solapur district consists of 342 square kilometres of forest area, 789 square kilometres of uncultivated area, 11,315 square kilometres of cultivated area, and 1788 square kilometres of ground water irrigated area.
Solapur city has a number of small and medium scale companies, well known for their textile industry. Solapur chadders (woollen blanket or large shawl) and towels are famous around the globe. The district has the largest industry in Maharashtra for the manufacture of Beedi (thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco flakes). Solapur is also known for its oil seed market. Solapur district is famous for chadder, handlooms, power loom and sugar industries etc.
Ujjani Dam:
This dam was built on the Bhima River, which rises from the ranges of the Western Ghat. The Bhima River originates in Bhima Shankar Pune. It is located near the village of Ujjani on the Bhima river of Madha Taluk in Solapur district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The Ujjani Dam is the largest dam on Bhima River and is an earthfill and gravity dam. 22 dams have been built on the Bhima River, which the Ujjani Dam being the last dam on the river. It is the largest in the valley intercepting a catchment area of 14856 square km. Construction of the Ujjani Dam began in 1969 and was completed in 1980. It has a capacity of 3,313,071,000 m3 (100%). Its height is 56.4 m, length is 2534 m and electricity generation is 12 MW. The reservoir has a total of 41 doors and its backwater is known as “Yashwant Sagar”. If there is no rainfall in Solapur district, the dam is still filled because of heavy rainfall from western side of Pune district. The Ujjani dam is an earth cum concrete masonry dam, which has created a multipurpose reservoir. Its large reservoir provides multi-purpose benefits of irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, drinking and industrial water supply, and fisheries. Irrigation from the reservoir`s storage is provided by two irrigation canal systems originating from the dam – The Left Bank Main Canal (LBMC) and The Right Bank Main canal (RBMC). The dam supplies water to the urban and rural pockets of Solapur district, some parts of Ahmednagar and district. The SMC lift at 75MLD of water at Takali, and 80 MLD at Ujjani dam.
Ekrukh Hipparga Lake:
Ekrukh Hipparhe Lake was established during the period when Solapur was under British rule 1871. It has a capacity of 84,950,540 m3 and this lake is one of the historical man-made water reservoirs near Solapur city at a distance of around 12 km. The reservoir commands a gross area of 17,152 acres with maximum height of 21.45m. The total catchment area of the reservoir is 411.81 sq.km. In addition to water for irrigation and domestic use in villages, Ekrukh Lake provides drinking water to Solapur city and is one of the city’s major water resources.
Ground Water:
The groundwater availability varies in the city due to the lack of continuity of groundwater flow at greater depths and the hard rock terrain. Recharging of the upper shallow aquifers takes place during the monsoon only. Currently, there are public bore-wells (22%) as well as private bore-wells (78%) in the city, some of them equipped with electric pumps. According to city government records, 2195 bore-wells were drilled in the city by 2021, and the water table ranged from 100 and 150 metres. There are roughly 10,000 bore-wells in the city, of which about 60% are said to be seasonal with low discharge (about 200 to 500 litres/day), almost 30% with medium discharge (about 500 to 2000 litres/day) and nearly 10% with discharge of more than 2500 litres/day. It is estimated that approximately 3 to 4.5 MLD is made available through groundwater resources. During the summer, nearly 20% of the bore-wells are unusable
Out of three sources, most drinking water comes from Ujjani dam, which is treated at two water treatment plants, one is Soregaon with a capacity of 108 MLD and another one is Pakani with a capacity of 75 MLD. The water Ekrukh Hipperga Lake is treated at Bhavani water treatment plant with a capacity of 25 MLD.
Note: MLD: million liters per day