Over 80% Nashik city faces water cuts after power outage

Nashik: A power failure at the Gangapur dam pumping station disrupted water supply to over 80% of Nashik city for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, severely affecting routine life, civic officials said.

Tuesday’s power outage hit Nashik West, Satpur, Panchavati and Nashik Road divisions fully, along with parts of Cidco and Nashik East that depend on the Gangapur dam. Areas receiving water from alternative sources such as Mukane dam were largely unaffected.

The disruption was triggered by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) failing to lift raw water from the jackwell at the Gangapur dam due to a fault in a 33kV feeder line supplying power to the pumping station. Officials said normal supply is likely to resume by Thursday evening.

According to the NMC water supply department, the jackwell pumping station, critical to the city’s water supply chain, remained non-functional due to a complete power outage.

Two feeder lines supply electricity to the station — Satpur and Mahindra. While the high-tension conductor on the Mahindra feeder snapped and fell, the Satpur feeder was also knocked out after a tree collapsed onto the line during heavy rain and strong winds.

The outage halted raw water supply to six water treatment plants (WTPs), leading to widespread disruption in potable water distribution across the city.

Repair work on the damaged power infrastructure is underway on a war footing by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), NMC officials said.

Civic authorities added once electricity is restored, pumping operations will resume immediately and water supply will be reinstated in phases, though full normalisation may take time as the system stabilises.

The Gangapur dam is the primary water source for Nashik, catering to nearly 80% of the city’s demand, with the remaining requirement met by Mukane and Darna dams.