Here is all about submergence of Pump Houses of Irrigation projects

The submergence of a pump house at Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project in Telangana due to unprecedented floods in the recent past has evoked criticism. There is a criticism that the submergence of the pump house occurred due to the engineering failure although it happened due to floods.

Going by the facts, the pump houses of an irrigation project are mostly built based on various parameters and undergoes several steps. The construction of the project starts only after the Central authorities approve the plan and is built based on 100 years of flood data. The Medigadda barrage was designed to withstand 107.5 meters of flood level where its highest flood level was recorded at 106.7 meters as per the CWC records, however, it was now exceeded 108 meters this year due to floods.

A similar situation has erupted in the Srisailam project in 2009 where the powerhouse was submerged due to the discharge of 26 lakh cusecs of water against its capacity of 13 lakh cusecs following the heavy floods. However, it was restored in couple of months

As it is an impossible task to overcome the heavy floods and the submergence of the pumphouse as it occurred due to natural disaster. The engineering experts said that pump house machines can be returned to functioning mode soon in the same way the many projects, which suffered setbacks were revived.