Water

As the laterite capping is nowhere very thick, the substratum of water-bearing trap is soon reached and a well sunk to a moderate depth, say from thirty to fifty feet, will yield a certain supply of water. In this respect the station presents a most favorable contrast to Matheran. The Venna lake, with an area of about twenty-eight acres and a average depth of ten feet, constructed by Chhatrapati Appasaheb Maharaj, Raja of Satara, in 1842 on the request of the Governor of Bombay, Sir James Rivette Lawrence and fed by perennial springs, not only adds to the beauty of the hill-top, but both directly and indirectly aids in watering a line of small gardens that stretch to a considerable distance below. It helps directly by means of a stream that issues from the lake and ultimately grows into the Venna river ; and it helps indirectly by raising the general spring level in the gardens so that a sufficient supply of water can be drawn from a shallow dip well, by means of a bucket and bamboo pole weighted with a large stone and worked by a single laborer. The little streams that flow from the upper parts of the hill into the larger streams are so long as they last used in cultivation by means of artificial water-courses. The drinking water is generally excellent. For drinking water the municipality has 19 public wells and two chlorinated tanks viz.  the Bishop Tank and the Elphinstone Tank. They are disinfected periodically. In addition, there are 230 private wells. To augment the water supply which runs short in May when the station is full of visitors, the Government Internal Distribution Scheme of Mahabaleshwar was completed in March 1961. The scheme supplies piped water and consists of pumping arrangements on the Elphinstone Tank, a reservoir, setting tanks and a dam.