10 gates lifted as Srisailam reservoir nears capacity

Kurnool: With the Srisailam Reservoir receiving continuous heavy inflows into the dam, the irrigation officials on Friday released 4.50 lakh cusecs of water downstream after lifting 10 crest gates out of 12, to a height of 18 feet. This is the first time in the rainy season that the officials have lifted 10 gates to discharge the floodwaters. In the previous year, the officials lifted gates of Srisailam Dam three times to release water. On the occasion of lifting 10 gates, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy visited the dam and inspected the water release from the dam. He also enquired about the inflows and outflows with the irrigation department officials.

According to the sources, the Srisailam Reservoir was receiving heavy inflows of water due to incessant rains in the upper catchment areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra states. Huge amounts of floodwater is reaching Jurala project in Telangana and Tungabhadra Dam in Hospet of Karnataka state due to heavy rains. The authorities of the concerned projects after maintaining the water storage level are releasing the excess water to downstream. Even the huge water discharged from Tungabhadra Dam is reaching Sunkesula barrage in Kurnool district.

The authorities of the Jurala project are releasing 3,22,398 lakh cusecs and the officials of Sunkesula are releasing 75,829 cusecs. The released water from both projects, Jurala and Sunkesula are reaching Srisailam Dam. On an average, the Srisailam Dam is receiving 4,18,970 cusecs of flood water. The water level in dam has reached to 883.50 feet out of its actual storage capacity of 885 ft.