Somasila reservoir filled to brim in Nellore

Nellore: Somasila reservoir is now filled to brim at a record level of 77.78 tmcft (99.72 pc) against the full reservoir level of 78 tmcft.

It is a record during the last 30 years after the construction of the major water body. The reservoir is getting huge inflows from the upper catchment areas of Rayalaseema districts due to heavy rainfall in the region.

Officials started releasing water from the reservoir through its crest gates to River Penna and the district administration has alerted the villages close to the river as a precautionary measure.

Officials said 71 tmcft of water was stored at the reservoir during 2008-09, 73.07 tmcft during 2010-11, and 70.565 tmcft during 2015-16. Now, the level reached the actual FRL of 77.88 tmcft on Wednesday.

According to data, the reservoir received a total of 129.185 tmcft of inflows from the upper stream during the last 75 days. Officials have released water to Kandaleru reservoir and also to Nellore, Kanigiri, Sarvepalli and Kanupurupalli tanks. Kavali canal, tanks under the North canal and the South canal were also filled.

Somasila Project officials have released water from the reservoir to River Penna on October 12 and 13 after lifting the crest gates as the water body received huge inflows of 1,30,000 cusecs of water.

Now, the water body is receiving inflows of 28,944 cusecs and officials are releasing 9,800 cusecs to manage the levels. Further, the Irrigation Advisory Board has decided to allocate irrigation water for 5.36 lakh acres in the district for the first crop.