Krishna water set to quench State's thirst during summer

Hyderabad: Telangana has got a big relief from the drinking water crisis faced by the State during the current summer season. Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Friday allocated 8.5 TMC of water to Telangana and 5.5 TMC to Andhra Pradesh from river Krishna for drinking water needs.

The KRMB three-member committee also decided to hold another meeting in May on further allocation of Krishna water for drinking purposes from the available water sources during peak summer season.

The Telangana and AP irrigation officials informed the Board about the availability of 14 TMC of water above 500 feet in the Sagar reservoir. The Telangana irrigation chief Anil Kumar explained to the KRMB the increasing drinking water crisis due to depleting water levels in the reservoirs and also groundwater levels due to prevailing drought conditions in the State.

The officials sought the Board’s active intervention to address the water crisis in the Hyderabad city. The issue of depending on Sagar for drinking water needs in old Mahbubnagar, Khammam and Nalgonda districts was also discussed in detail during the meeting.

Officials said that the KRMB assured them of solving the drinking water crisis with the available water resources and asked the two states to make use of the water judiciously and not to exploit them for other needs till summer was over.

Telangana irrigation officials also lodged a complaint against AP for utilising more water and demanded the Board to stop AP from using water from Srisailam during the crisis period. The officials alleged that the neighbouring Andhra State utilised excess water and did not show in the water usage data submitted to the Board.