THANE: The timely rains in the last few days has considerably eased the situation in the cities and the rural Thane. Also the scientific assessment by the weather experts about incessant rains in the next couple of days has raised hopes that there would be no water cuts and citizens will have sufficient water all through the year.The heavy rains over the past few days has swept a wave of relief for the denizens of the lake-city as also from the farm pockets across the district, breaking the month-long dry spell that had led to second sowing and risen the input cost for the famers.The inadequate rains in June were a cause of big worry for the urban towns across the districts given the mismatch in water distribution and the population growth. An extended dry spell would have inadvertently lead to sharp water cuts and the tanker mafia ruling the roost.In fact, the last seven weeks from June to July could be a record as one of the most wet months, with Thane district receiving a lashing of more than 10,028mm of rain from June 1 to July 18 as against 7,000 mm rains received during the same period in 2016 and the 4,000mm rain received in 2015.All the major irrigation and the MIDC dams in the division which provide water to the Thane, Mumbai, Palghar among others cities have also swelled, with almost all the reservoirs achieving 70% of their storage capacity if not more.The Modaksagar reservoir that contributes to the supply of Mumbai and Thane was full and overflowing by July 15 this year. The dam with a capacity of 128.93 mcm has reached its full capacity this year while last year the reservoir was just filled up till 71% by this time.While, this region faced acute water crises last year, which forced them to rely on water tanker services, the moderate rainfall last year in addition to the string of issues including water theft and leakages had forced many to depend on external water supply sources during the water cuts through the year.Bhatsa dam that contributes nearly 30% of the daily 480mld water requirement of the city has nearly 61.54% volume or around 674.02 mcm filled of the total 942.10 mcm water in it till July 18 while last year the volume was 594.49 mcm.Barvi dam also registered 185.01 mcm water volume in it as against the 96.33 mcm volume in the stock last year."While one dam has already overflowed, the other three are filling up quickly thanks to the good monsoon that we are witnessing this year. If the rains continue in this way, we will surely not face any water scarcity this year and will not have to impose any water cuts. We are also trying to increase the awareness of water conservation and harvesting the rain water so that the depleting ground water table rises," said a civic official.

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