Water remains a source of concern

Srikakulam: North Andhra is a place for revolutionary ideologies. It is from where political and literary stalwarts have come. They have laid the foundation for social reformations. It is a land endowed with lush green cover washed constantly by the waves of Bay of Bengal. But, alas, it is not able to meet the drinking water requirements of people and irrigation needs of farmers.

Over the decades, the North Andhra districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam have been discriminated against. Nature has blessed us with Nagavali, Vamshadhara, Vegavathi, Suvernamukhi, Champaaathi, Bodderu, Sharada, Meghadrigedda, Thandava and Gosthani.

Above all, we have innumerable water sources in the form of tanks, ponds, streams and what not? You cannot name a village that is not in possession of a water body. Yet, our people have no access to water as they are not properly channelled to reach them.

According to available statistics, there are 40,000 water ponds in the entire Andhra Pradesh and 25, 000 of them are located within three north Andhra districts. There are 9,000 freshwater ponds in Srikakulam, 4,000 in Visakhapatnam, and 10,000 in Vizianagaram district We have ’Gotta’ barrage built on the river Vamshadhara at Srikakulam, Narayanapuram barrage on the  Nagavali river and ‘Adigam project on the river ‘Mahendra Tanaya’.

The Maddu valasa’ project was built on Vegaavathi, and Suvernamukhi, the tributaries of the Nagavali river. They are meeting at ‘Samgam’ village before draining into the sea Nagavali originates in Odisha flows 112 kilometers in Vizianagaram district with her three tributaries; the Vegavathi, Suvernamukhi, and Jamjhavathi. The existing water sources could irrigate 7 lakh acres alone and 4.5 lakh Acres of land within this is rain-fed, where cultivation is possible only during the rainy season.

Although water drawn from the rivers ‘Thandava’, ‘Gosthani’ is stored in ‘Raivada’, ‘Konaam’, ‘Pedderu’, ‘Ravanapalle’, ‘Jaajigedda’ ‘Phhotagedda’ and ‘Thandava’ reservoirs, we are able to irrigate only 2.15 lakh Acres of land out of 10.31 lakh Acres of cultivable land in Visakhapatnam district.

At present, 200 TMC of water is flowing across the three districts of the Uttara Andhra. We need 80 TMC of water immediately for the cultivation of 30 lakh acres of land and to ensure safe drinking water supply. However, only 26 TMC of water is currently available. There is an immediate need to complete the proposed new projects to provide at least 55 TMC of water to meet the most pressing needs.

The gross negligence of our rulers for the past five decades had made the area underdeveloped.  By spending Rs 15,000 crores, it is possible to provide 80 TMC of water immediately to meet the most immediate needs of these three districts from the available 200 TMC of water to improve the productivity of the farming sector, which in turn can stall the labourers’ migration, as it can potentially improve the standards of living of the people of this region.

What is needed is inter-linking of all the minor and major water bodies starting from the river ‘Bahudaa’ to the river ‘Thandava’ to utilise waters for humankind. We need to rejuvenate, repair and reconstruct all the minor water bodies, including tanks, water ponds and small reservoirs, which would be very crucial in meeting our domestic needs.

Our dream of irrigating 45,000 more acres in Srikakulam district could be fulfilled only by completing Phase II project on ‘Vamshadhara.’. By completing the offshore activities, we can provide draining water to an entire municipality in the district, apart from making another project, once completed can irrigate 24,000 acres of parched and drylands.

Dr Srinubabu completed Ph D from Andhra University and Post doctorate from Stanford University