Grim situation prevails in Krishna basin dams in state

Vijayawada: While the Godavari river is in full spate inundating scores of villages upstream of Polavaram project and villages in Konaseema district, the scenario looks grim for the reservoirs in Krishna basin. Two months have passed since the start of rainy season in June, but the major reservoirs like Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar have less than 50 per cent of water of their total capacity.

Krishna delta heavily depends on Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs for cultivation of crops and drinking water needs of lakhs of people.

Srisailam reservoir has the capacity of 215 tmc ft. So far, the reservoir has only 84 tmc ft which accounts for only 39 per cent of its capacity. The Srisailam reservoirs gets inflows from rains in the upstream and catchments areas and inflows from reservoirs like Almatti, Tungabhadra and others.

Srisailam reservoir was getting 91,000 cusecs of water on Tuesday and inflows started recently giving some hope to the farmers. Cultivation of crops is yet to pick up in the state this kharif season due to meagre rainfall in most districts.

Another important reservoir Nagarjunasagar too has only 44 per cent of water of its capacity by the end of July. Nagarjunasagar has storage capacity of 312 tmc ft. By Tuesday, the Nagarjunasagar has water storage of 140 tmc ft water which is only 44 per cent of its capacity. Sadly, the project is not getting inflows.

K L Rao Pulichintala reservoir on Krishna river has 73 per cent of its full storage capacity as on Tuesday. Pulichintala reservoir’s full capacity is 45.77 tmc ft. On Tuesday, August 1, the reservoir has 33.67 tmc ft water. Due to heavy rains in Telangana and upstream areas of NTR district, Pulichintala received flood water in recent days.

Interestingly, flood water levels are gradually increasing in Krishna river in Almati dam located in Karnataka. The dam received 12,800 cusecs of flood water on Tuesday. Almati has water storage capacity of 129 tmc ft. So far, the Almatti has water storage of 112 tmc ft and getting inflows. The outflow of water is 57,731 cusecs. If the outflows increase, the flood water will reach the reservoirs of Andhra Pradesh. Reservoirs in Krishna basin in Andhra Pradesh heavily depend on rains in Karnataka and Telangana.

In contrast to the gloomy situation in regard to reservoirs in Krishna basin, over 14 lakh cusecs flood water was released into sea from Godavari three days ago and outflows from Sir Arthur Cotton barrage continue in Godavari region.