Lifeline of water supply to the city and industry, the Yeleru canal will be closed for 30 days for maintenance next year.
The closure is a prelude to its receiving more water from the Yeleru reservoir once the Purushottapatnam Lift Scheme on Polavaram Left Main Canal is completed.
The State government has accorded administrative sanction to the Purushottapatnam Lift Scheme that will bring water through the Polavaram canal providing irrigation under it and supplementing the Yeleru ayacut and pumping water into reservoirs meeting the industrial and domestic needs of Visakhapatnam.
The cost of the Purushottam lift project is Rs.1,638 crore.
Though the Yeleru canal has to be closed every year for maintenance owing to heavy dependence on it to meet the water needs the closure is not adhered to. It was last closed in 2011.
Municipal Commissioner and CMD of Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company M. Hari Naryanan held a meeting with all stakeholders, including the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, to discuss the issue, it was learnt.
They were informed about the closure sometime in next February/March . The Steel Plant authorities have reportedly conveyed to him that the plant cannot afford to take the closure for more than 30 days.
VISCOW had already carried out a survey on how to to go about it.
Though the actual carrying capacity of the canal is 400 cusecs, around 270 cusecs is being drawn from it.
The closure and maintenance work like strengthening bunds, removing weeds etc is expected to raise it up to a maximum of 330 cusecs.
To further improve the capacity the canal closure may be resorted to again in the year after, it is learnt.
The lift at Yeleru reservoir will pump water into the reservoir inflows into which are dwindling owing to poor rain in the catchment areas.
It had led to pumping of water from its dead storage level for months together this year. Water from the canal flows by gravity 156 km to the Kanithi Balancing Reservoir.
