Villagers Collecting Water in Maharashtra

Khomnal village of Mangalwheda taluka, Solapur district in Maharashtra has a population of about 1600. The drinking water bore wells and hand pumps provided by the Gram panchayat are still functional but the low yield from these water sources and the dependence of a large number of families on just one or two hand-pumps of the village indicates that the water scarcity is quite high in this village.

Unique identifier: GP0STPOU2

Type: Image

Shoot date: 06/03/2016

Locations: Asia, India, Maharashtra, South Asia

Credit line: © Subrata Biswas / Greenpeace

Size: 4500px × 3000px 2MB

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Drought in Maharashtra, India

The State Government of Maharashtra has already declared 15747 villages of 12183 Gram Panchayats in 21 districts as drought affected, under relevant State regulations in October 2015.
Solapur is an arid district with normal rainfall averaging about 500 mm, which is quite low. The sugar cane cultivation in Solapur district and the sugar processing factories consume a huge volume of the stored water from Ujjani Dam. The drinking water needs of Solapur town is also met by the dam.

The 2015 monsoon provided a paltry 200 mm of rainfall, making it one of the worse affected districts in the drought of 2015-16.

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