The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will suspend water supply across the city every Thursday, starting October 15, 2026. The civic body announced the weekly shutdown after reviewing storage in the Khadakwasla dam chain, Bhama Askhed and Pavana, and it has set a target of keeping drinking water available until August 31, 2027, India.com reported. A day later, on October 16, the state’s mandatory 10% cut in consumption for local bodies kicks in on top of it.
Why the cut, and why now
Pune usually enters the dry months in better shape than Marathwada or Vidarbha. Its four Khadakwasla-chain dams, Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar, sit in the Sahyadri catchment west of the city. This year that cushion is thinner. PMC put the chain’s stock at 26.22 TMC on October 12 and described it as lower than in a normal year, according to The Karbhari. Officials pointed to the rainfall deficit and the risk that El Niño weakens next year’s monsoon as well.
The El Niño worry explains the timing. If PMC expected a normal monsoon next June, it could hold off on cuts until summer. PMC is planning for the possibility that June brings less, so it has stretched the stock across ten and a half months instead.
The decision also follows a statewide order. Maharashtra’s water resources department told municipal corporations, councils and gram panchayats to cut supply by at least 10% from October 16, and the state had already declared drought in 265 talukas in September. We explained the state-level 10% cut last week. Pune’s Thursday shutdown goes further than the minimum: one dry day a week removes roughly a seventh of scheduled supply days.
What changes at home
- Fill up on Wednesday. Store enough for Thursday’s cooking, drinking and bathing, and keep a reserve for Friday morning in case supply returns late to your building.
- Fix leaks now. PMC has asked households and housing societies to repair dripping taps, flush tanks and pipelines, and to fit automatic float valves so overhead tanks stop overflowing.
- No drinking water for cars, courtyards or gardens. The civic body has barred using potable supply to wash vehicles, clean footpaths and courtyards, fill private swimming pools or water gardens. It wants residents to reuse grey water for cleaning and plants.
- Societies should plan centrally. PMC has asked housing societies to run their own conservation drives, which in practice means managing pump timings and tank storage around the Thursday gap.
Who else is affected
Builders face the clearest rule. PMC has banned the use of drinking water for construction and told developers to use treated water from sewage treatment plants or borewell water. Vehicle-washing centres, public and private, must close for the conservation period. Hotels, restaurants, hostels, colleges and offices have been told to cut use for bathing, dishwashing and laundry, Down To Earth reported.
PMC has also warned of action against unauthorised connections, though neither report spells out fines. Additional commissioner Pavneet Kaur appealed to residents to use water sparingly.
What to watch
The state order lets local bodies raise the cut beyond 10%, so Pune’s schedule could tighten if storage falls faster than PMC projects through winter and summer. Watch the next PMC review of dam levels, and whether PCMC, which shares the Pavana dam, announces its own rotation. Nagpur’s district authority, for comparison, has already banned new borewells across the district.
To report leaks, illegal connections or supply complaints, PMC lists its toll-free helpline 1800-1030-222, WhatsApp number 9689900002 and the PMC Care app.
Sources: India.com, The Karbhari, Down To Earth
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.