The closure of Ganga canal till October 24 for clearing silt and routine annual maintenance will affect the water supply in 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Saturday.
The annual closure of the canal has been enforced from Friday midnight.
The affected districts include Aligarh, Bullandshar, Eta, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Hathras, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar, a Uttar Pradesh irrigation department official said.
Farmers are advised to use private water sources like tube-wells and pumping sets to irrigate their fields, he added.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ajay Kumar said, sand mining will not be allowed during the canal closure and strict action will be taken against the offenders.
Every year around this time, the Ganga canal is closed by the UP irrigation department and during the time of the closure, various social organisations and academic institutions also engage themselves in cleaning the river bed.