Pune | Water level in the Ujani Dam in Maharashtra's Solpur district has reached 97 per cent of its capacity, prompting the irrigation department to release water from the reservoir, officials said on Tuesday.

The dam is almost filled to its capacity owing to good rainfall in the catchment areas of the Bhima river.

Water was being released from the dam at the rate of 70,000 cubic foot per second (cusec), an irrigation department official said.

The total capacity of the Ujani Dam is 117 TMC and it generally gets filled up to its maximum capacity by August 15 in case of normal rainfall.

The reservoir mainly provides water to Solapur and partly to Pune and Satara districts.

"So far, the dam is filled up to 97 per cent, thanks to the good rainfall upstream in the Bhima river catchment area in Pune. Currently, water is being released from the dam at 70,000 cusec," Ujani dam project executive engineer Raosaheb More said.