Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar get copious inflows

Vijayawada: With release of water from Almatti dam and heavy rains taking place in the upstream of Krishna catchment area, important reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh have been receiving huge inflows for the past few days.

Water level in Srisailam reservoir on Krishna river reached 848 feet by Saturday as against the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 885 feet.

The inflows were 38,224 cusecs and the outflows were 46,159 cusecs. The gross storage capacity of Srisailam reservoir is 215 tmc ft and so far the reservoir has 75.8 tmc ft water.

Another major reservoir in the state the Nagarjunasagar has 557.6 feet water level by Saturday against the Full Reservoir Level of 590 feet.

The reservoir is getting inflows of 38,904 cusecs and the outflows were 7258 feet.

The Nagarjunasagar's water storage capacity is 312.04 tmc ft and so far, it has 226.83 tmc ft by Saturday.

Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar play very important role in irrigation and to supply of drinking water to lakhs of people.

According to irrigation department officials, Pulichintala project downstream of Nagarjunasagar has 140 feet of water on Saturday as against its FRL of 175 feet.

The total storage capacity of the project is 45.77 tmc ft and so far, it has 9.73 tmc ft water.

It is expected the water inflows will increase if the water discharge from Srisailam is increased in the coming days. Pulichintala is getting inflows from the rains in western Krishna and Khammam districts of Telangana.

Karnataka has been releasing water from Almatti dam since floodwater crossed 1,690 feet as against the FRL of 1,705 feet by Saturday.

Inflows into Almatti dam were 1,51,598 cusecs and the outflows were 1,75,672 cusecs.

The water storage capacity of Almatti is 129.72 tmc ft and nearly 100 tmc ft water is in the reservoir now.

Still, the Almatti is receiving floodwater and releasing surplus downstream to reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh.

Small reservoirs like Jurala, Sunkesula and others in the state are getting adequate inflows and water levels reached to the full capacity by the end of the first week of August.