KRMB nod for release of more water to Telangana, AP

​Hyderabad: With the steady increase of inflows into river Krishna, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Friday issued water release order for drinking purposes in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the balance month of July and August this year.  

As per the orders, 10 TMCs of water from the Srisailam reservoir will be released to the Kalwakurthi Lift Irrigation Scheme in Telangana, nine TMCs to the Pothiredypadu Head Regulator and five TMCs to the Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) in Andhra Pradesh.  

From the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP), Telangana will get 20 TMCs of water. Of this, six TMCs will be used to meet drinking water needs in Hyderabad and Nalgonda, two TMCs for Mission Bhagiratha and 12 TMCs will be released into the Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal.

For Andhra requirements, seven and a half TMCs of water will be released to the Nagarjuna Sagar Right Canal and three and a half TMCs to the left canal.  

KRMB member secretary A Parashuram said water allocations are made to the two states considering the intent placed by the two Telugu state governments.   The quantity of 52 TMCs of water will be released from July 28 to August 22 at two TMCs per day from Srisailam to NSP through power houses so as to derive power generation benefits by the two states. In case, there is no power demand, or the releases are not as per actual requirement by the GENCO authorities, the balance water will be released through river sluices from the Srisailam project.   

The release through the Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal will be made to meet the requirements of both the states simultaneously to minimize the losses.  

Accordingly, the schedule of requirement of water will be furnished by the Chief Engineer of Andhra Pradesh to the Chief Engineer of NSP, Telangana and the officials concerned will coordinate with each other to deliver water at AP border. 

The balance water available at NSP, if any, after meeting the requirements specified in the release order will be kept as reserve for exigency, the KRMP official said in the order.