Farmers of about 21.43-lakh acres ayacut served by Nagarjunasagar project (NSP) are left with no choice but to pray the rain gods. Poor or “zero” inflows into Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs have plummeted their water levels, forcing the authorities to postpone decision on release of water till “getting adequate inflows”.
Almatti and Narayanapur reservoirs in Karnataka need about 72 tmcft water for letting water downstream into Srisailam. Another reservoir in the Krishna Basin, Tungabhadra, also in Karnataka, needs over 36 tmcft of water to allow the flow downstream.
A meeting of the working group of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) held here on Monday failed to take a decision on release of water to the command areas under Nagarjunasagar since availability of water in the reservoir is just 1.19 tmcft above the minimum draw down level (MDDL). The water level in Srisailam is very poor with the present storage being about 100 tmcft below MDDL.
“We can think about prospects of giving water to the ayacut of NSP only if Srisailam reservoir gets adequate inflows of water soon as the time is running for kharif cultivation. The ideal time of transplantation of paddy is till mid-August and the situation now is very grim,” a senior irrigation official who participated in the meeting stated later.
However, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, represented by Engineers-in-Chief C. Muralidhar and M. Venkateswara Rao, respectively, agreed for “judicious” utilisation of available water for drinking water needs as priority. The AP’s demand for release of 20 tmcft water was also discussed but no decision was taken.
“There’s no scope for giving water even to the standing crop in Krishna Delta as the availability of water won’t permit it now. About 30 tmcft of water can be utilised for drinking needs from the Srisailam and NSP, though the level is below MDDL,” the official said. The two States have assessed that drinking water needs could arise in Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Guntur and Prakasam districts. Water is already being drawn from NSP for drinking needs in Hyderabad and it would be commenced as and when required for other districts, Mr. Venkateswara Rao said after the meeting.
The meeting also discussed about a website developed by KRMB for recording water levels, inflows, outflows and utilisation by the two States transparently.
“The system is being validated now and the website will be launched once it is over,” he added.
A meeting of the working group of KRMB fails to take a decision on release of water to the command areas
