Nizam Sagar Project going dry

Nizamabad: The lifeline of Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts, Nizam Sagar project, is fast becoming dry, with the water level attaining dead storage mark. Although irrigation facilities could be provided to the Rabi crops, drinking water is going to be a problem with the project going virtually dry.

As against the full reservoir level of 1,405 ft the current level in the project is 1,386 ft. The current storage of water in the project is 2.75 tmcft as against the capacity of 17 tmcft.

This is worrying the ayacut farmers, as according to the agreement, nine TMC ft should be released into the project from the Singur project. But during the last four years, there was no water, with Singur project going bone dry because of the drought condition for the last three years.

Consequently, no irrigation water could be provided to the farmers. However, the project received good inflows following heavy rains during the fag end of last monsoon. It had almost become full. At one stage there were even floods. As a result, about 60 tmc ft of water was released downstream.

Keeping this in view, there is a criticism that the project attained dead storage level because of mishandling and not following a planned approach by the officials. They are receiving flak, as the project had resembled a full vessel because of rain during the last season.

The officials had released water for the Rabi from the project. The current project status can be attributed to the prevailing hot weather conditions, with the mercury touching 44 degrees Celsius. This is resulting in depletion of water levels on a daily basis. With dead storage level, the 2.5 tmc ft now available is likely to sink, leaving only 1.5 tmc ft. At the end of summer the level may touch one tmcft with the rest getting evaporated, it is feared.

People of Nizamabad district are likely to face water shortage, as the drinking supply is met from the project. The shortage can be averted if there is rain. Otherwise, farmers fear that there would not be even a drop in the project.

They point out the current situation could have been avoided had the officials followed a plan while releasing water for Rabi. Water was wasted because of leakage in view of the project gate needed repairs when the water level was full. The repairs were not done because of drought following the last monsoon.

Speaking to The Hans India here on Thursday, a farmer, K Govind Rao, said that the project’s dead storage level would not have been possible if water was released for the Rabi following a careful plan.

He alleged that the officials had indiscriminately released water leading to a situation of the project reaching dead storage level even before the end of summer. “Leave alone irrigation water, there won’t be water even for drinking,” he feared.

Another farmer, A Narayana, said the leakage due to faulty gates had resulted in water going waste. He attributed the project’s dead storage level to faulty water release by the officials. While predicting severe water shortage, he said the farmers would face a tough time if there was no rain during the ensuing season.