Water Resources In the Peshwa Era.

Water supply to Pune and Maharashtra

The Period....around 1740.

The city of Pune was growing. New settlements started coming up around the Mula river. "Peths" as they are known, grew, as the city prospered. With an increase in population came the demand for water supply.

Till Pune was a small settlement most of the housing was near the river and shortage of water was not a source of worry. As it grew, habitation went away from the river. This brought in the problem of sourcing of water for daily needs.

This became obvious in 1745. The absence of rain created a drought situation in Pune. However the orchards and gardens were still watered by bringing cartloads of water from the existing rivulets and wells. Nanasaheb Peshwa was at Satara and Radhabai his grand mother at Shaniwarwada. There is a letter from her to Nanasaheb which states " I am really worried for the people of Pune. It is not right that trees and gardens receive water but the citizens are dying of thirst. Immediate stop should be put on this. Trees as they are well rooted can survive but people cannot." It had the desired effect and a plan to build a systematic supply of water to Pune was to put to effect.
In those times there was no piped and tapped water to the households. The Mughals, brought in the idea of digging wells. These wells were for the general public and free of taxation. Also in ancient times, small lakes or ponds were dug and because it was impossible to carry water to the households, canals were dug and the water channeled . This way the water could be used not only for the house but also in the backyard.

The Peshwa's followed this up too. The Maratha's during their war campaigns, had seen these kind of lakes and ponds in Mysore and Chennai (Madras of yore). The Peshwa's with the help of their Generals and Chieftains, built many such lakes and ponds around Pune and Maharashtra.
BajiraoI built 2 such lakes. One at the bottom of Dive ghat and the other at Katraj. The lake at Katraj was built to bring water into Shaniwarwada and around it.
During Nansaheb Peshwa's time, Nana Phadnavis, continued with the work. Narhe Ambegaon is a village around 7.5 kms from Pune. Narhe means a rivulet or canal. Pipes were made with lime and mud and water was brought into Sadashiv Peth from the lake in the village.
Similar tanks were built in many parts of Pune . Even then it was seen that the benefit of these resources could only be availed by a few hundred households. Thus, Nanasaheb Peshwa ordered the construction of a lake at the foot of the Parvati Hill in Pune in 1745. A note of the time said that as it was summer there were guava fruit orchards in the area. hence digging began in areas where natural springs were revealed. Once the construction of the lake was completed, areas which felt the water shortage received water. New settlements came up and the whole area turned green.

Bajirao II, built another tank in Vishrambaug wada and the water for this too came from  Narhe Ambegaon.
To the south of Pune, around 7.5 kms away, lies Kondhwa. Sardar Raste, through the same system of pipelines brought water from here into Rastewada and Rasta Peth.

Not only in Pune, but all over Maharashtra such methods were used to bring in a regular water supply.
Pune and Satara, being the capitals of power, both Shahu Maharaj and the Peshwa, made sure that adequate supply of water was provided to Pune and Satara.

In the same way the Sardars and Chieftains of villages built tanks and dug wells, bringing in water to the villages.
Villages close to the rivers Krishna, Godavari, Pravara, Bheema, Koyna, and Indrayani, never fell short. The  realisation of the availability of ground water even away from the rivers was taken up and followed. In addition to the Sardars and Chieftains, there were magnanimous and philanthropic citizens who funded the projects. Saints too were known to fund and help build and bring water supply to remote areas. A special mention has to be made of Brahmendra Swami. The Guru of both Shahu Maharaj and the Peshwas, he took it upon himself to construct many tanks, lakes and wells. Drought prone places like Indapur, Natepute, Yavat, Malshiras etc benefited from these well laid out schemes.
There were other good doers too who helped with whatever they could afford. They would take manual and sometimes a little monetary help from the villagers. If they could not muster enough funds, an appeal was made to the government and funds were released to complete the projects.It is to be noted that all such supply was free of cost not only to the villagers but also to travellers and herdsmen.

Once a tank or lake was constructed, it was the responsibility of the village to keep it clean. Most of the time this time responsibility was fulfilled satisfactorily. At times due to various reasons, for example, people washing themselves while coming back from the fields, herdsmen and people coming to wash their clothes and vegetables etc., the villagers could not handle the task. At such times again a plea for help would be requested. A guard would ensure that these water bodies were kept clean.
During Sawai Madhavrao"s reign, Ghashiram Kotwal was the head (Kotwal). He constructed a tank to the North of Hadapsar  to facilitate travellers and herdsman's needs. He built orchards in this area too. During summers when the tank would run dry, he built pipelines and brought water from the stream in Kondhwa Budruk to the tank.
 The basic necessities of the villagers and town folk were of paramount importance to Shahu Maharaj and the Peshwa's.
As the settlements in and around Pune, Satara and Maharashtra grew, these innovative methods of the time served their purpose.

Due to total lack of information and general ignorance, unplanned digging and new structures, a large part of of these underground pipelines from Katraj to Pune, have been destroyed. This is a treasure, which needs to be protected, at all cost. Otherwise in the very near future there will be no signs of their existence, except maybe on paper.

Photographs to follow

Acknowledgemnets: Peshwekaleen Maharashtra by Vasudev Krishna Bhave ( वासुदेव कृष्ण  भावे यांचे पेशवेकालीन महाराष्ट्र )