Plentiful water in Tirumala dams

Tirupati: With plentiful water available in the dams in Tirumala, the temple management is much relieved as the available water is sufficient for 340 days. In other words, nearly for two years there will be no dearth of water to cater to the needs of the hilltop temple town Tirumala, including the requirement of pilgrims on the holy hills.

Daily on an average 70,000-80,000 pilgrims visit Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, for darshan. Thanks to the heavy rains that lashed Tirupati last year including the catchment areas on the upper reaches of Tirumala, the dams have received copious inflows pushing the water level in all the dams, the main water sources in Tirumala, almost reaching the FRL (full reservoir level), a few months back. An average of 32 lakh gallons of water is being consumed daily in Tirumala including the cottages (pilgrim accommodation), temple, institutions' drinking and other purposes, according to Executive Engineer (water works, Tirumala) DV Srihari adding that for drinking water purpose, the water is purified and made available to all cottage guest houses, footpath and other areas all over Tirumala.

There are five dams in Tirumala including the twin dams Kumaradhara-Pasupudhara, Papavinasam, Akasaganga and Gogarbham in which a total of 13,495 gallons water available against the five dams total storage capacity which is 14,304.49 gallons.

At the rate of 32 lakh gallons daily, the available water in the dams is sufficient for 340 days, he explained while asserting that there is no dearth of water for the devotees in the coming summer.

The available water as on last week of January is Papavinasam present level 5,230 L gallons (FRL 5,240 L gallons), Gogarbham available water 2,541 L gallons (FRL 2,833 L gallons), Akashganga is 405 L gallons

(FRL 685 L gallons), Kumaradhara 4,121.30 L gallons (FRL 4,258.98 L gallons) and Pasupudhara 1,198.31 L gallons(storage capacity 1,288 lakh gallons).

To ensure prudent usage of available water on the hills, he said TTD made required arrangements for the reuse of waste water after treatments for its parks, gardens, plantations etc. he informed.

This apart, TTD Engineering department, he said on its part, not content with the available water in the dams, initiated several measures including creating awareness among visiting pilgrims on avoiding wastage of water in Tirumala and ensure that the available water is utilised for more days, to see that there is no water scarcity, even if there is failure of rains, next year.