Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar’s long-awaited relief from its chronic water shortage hit an early setback this week. Days after the city’s new ₹2,740-crore water supply scheme began delivering extra water from the Jayakwadi dam for the first time, officials had to pause the additional supply after discovering damage at the project’s Nakshatrawadi pump house, according to local reports. Seepage during heavy rain on June 24 damaged electrical panels and created a short-circuit risk, and inspectors separately found that 25 of the pipeline’s 87 butterfly valves were malfunctioning, trapping air inside the line and disrupting the flow of water to the city.

Two decades in the making

The scheme itself has been in the works since the early 2000s. A parallel 2,500mm-diameter pipeline running roughly 39 km from the Jayakwadi dam to the Nakshatrawadi purification centre was meant to secure additional water for the city’s 18 lakh residents, but the project repeatedly missed deadlines and saw its cost balloon from an original estimate of ₹1,680 crore to ₹2,740 crore, per The Print. Delays and disputes on the ground grew serious enough that the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court began monitoring the project’s progress through a committee chaired by the Divisional Commissioner, underscoring how central this pipeline has become to the city’s civic life.

When water from Jayakwadi finally reached Nakshatrawadi earlier this year, it marked the end of what residents and local reports described as a near two-decade wait. The first phase promised around 200 MLD of additional supply, with an initial 20-30 MLD reportedly delivered over the scheme’s first eight days of operation, per Free Press Journal, before the pump house problems forced authorities to suspend the extra flow.

What it means for residents

For a city that has long dealt with intermittent, rationed water supply, the pause is a reminder of how fragile even a long-promised fix can be in its early days. Sambhajinagar’s water distribution network has historically struggled to carry additional volumes reliably — a concern flagged in past reporting, where new supply reached the city but weak pipeline infrastructure meant residents couldn’t fully benefit even when water was available. The current fault, though described by officials as fixable within days, again exposes how the last-mile plumbing, not just the dam-to-city pipeline, determines whether Sambhajinagar’s residents actually see the water on their taps.

The contractor has reportedly accepted responsibility for the faulty valves, and repair work — waterproofing the pump house, restoring electrical panels, replacing the defective valves, and re-testing the pipeline — is underway. Municipal officials expect the additional supply to resume within about a week, with the newer 1,500mm pipeline targeted for activation by late July.

Outlook

Given the court’s continued oversight of the project, any further delay is likely to draw scrutiny from the Divisional Commissioner’s committee and possibly the High Court bench itself. Residents in areas expecting the extra 200 MLD will be watching whether the final-stage repairs hold this time, or whether Sambhajinagar’s water story sees another round of setbacks before the scheme is fully operational.

Sources: The Print, Free Press Journal

This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.