Damanganga-Pinjal Link
The proposal of Damanganga-Pinjal link envisages transfer of balance available water at the proposed Bhugad reservoir across Damangangariver and at the proposed Khargihill reservoir across Vagh river, a tributary of Damanganga river, in Damanganga basin for augmentation of water supply to Greater Mumbai to meet its domestic and industrial water requirements in the near future. The Bhugad and Khargihill reservoirs (proposed by NWDA) and Pinjal reservoir (proposed by Government of Maharashtra across Pinjalriver, a tributary of Vaitarna river) areproposed to be connected through pressure tunnels. The purpose is to make thecombined water from Bhugad and Khargihill reservoirs to reach Pinjal reservoir fromwhere further arrangements for transmitting the water to Greater Mumbai will be madeby Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and Mumbai Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority (MMRDA) as per their plans.
The salient details of Damanganga-Pinjal link project are briefly described below:
- A 826.60 m long composite dam is proposed on Damanganga river near village Bhugad in Peinttaluka of Nasik district of Maharashtra State and very near to border of Valsad district of Gujarat. The FRL, of the dam fixed on the basis of detailed Surveys & Investigations is 163.87 m. The gross and live storage capacities of the storages are 426.39 Mm3 and 400.00 M m3 respectively. The maximum height of dam is 68.63 metres.
- A 16.85 km long Bhugad-Khargihill link tunnel with 5.0 m diameter connecting Bhugad and Khargihill reservoirs below their minimum draw down levels (MDDLs)is proposed.
- A 572.80 m long composite dam across river Vagh at Khargihill site near village Behadpada in MokhadaTaluka of Thane district of Maharashtra State is proposed.The FRL, of the dam fixed on the basis of detailed Surveys & Investigations is 154.52 m. The gross and live storage capacities have been fixed as 460.79 Mm3 & 420.50 Mm3 respectively. The maximum height of dam shall be 75.62m.
- A 25.70 km long Khargihill-Pinjal link tunnel with 5.25 m diameter connecting Khargihill and Pinjal reservoirs below their MDDLs.
- A 681 m long Pinjal dam on river Pinjal (tributary of Vaitarnariver) near village Khidse in Jawhartaluka of Thane district has been proposed by Govt.of Maharashtra. The FRL, have been fixed on the basis of detailed Surveys & Investigations by Government of Maharashtra as 141.00 m. The gross and live storage capacities have been fixed as 413.57 Mm3 and 401.55 Mm3 respectively.
The divertable water yield to Mumbai city at Pinjal dam site at 75% dependability (as fixed by Government of Maharashtra) is 332 Mm3. Thus, a combined release of 43.84 cumecs of water i.e. 3741 Million litre per day will be diverted through Pinjal reservoir as per plan of Govt. of Maharashtra.
The cost of this link project at 2002-2003 price level is estimated to be Rupees 1278 crores which includes cost of the two dams at Bhugad and Khargihill and the two tunnels connecting Bhugad ,Khargihill and Pinjal reservoirs. The cost of dropping the Damanganga waters from Bhugad and Khargihill reservoirs into Pinjalreservior works out to be Rs. 2.21 crores per Mm3 or Rs. 22.15 per cubic metre of water.
The B.C. ratio is worked out as 1.38. The time schedule for the construction of this link project is proposed to spread over a period of 9 years.
