A view of Srisailam Dam – A representational picture.
At a time when the two Telugu States are facing the drinking water problem due to lean inflows into the Krishna Basin reservoirs this water year, the three-member committee meeting of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has decided to avail 14 tmc ft water available in Nagarjunasagar above 500 ft level for drinking needs of the two States.
According to Irrigation department officials, the river board has allocated 8.5 tmc ft water to Telangana and 5.5 tmc ft to Andhra Pradesh to meet the drinking needs till May-end. The meeting was chaired by Member-Secretary of the Board D.M. Raipure and engineers-in-chief of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana C. Narayana Reddy and G. Anil Kumar. It was also decided to have another meeting of the three-member committee in May to discuss the drinking water issue.
As of Saturday afternoon, the water level in Nagarjunasagar was 509.9 ft against the full reservoir level of 590 ft and the water storage was 131.5 tmc ft against its capacity of 312.5 tmc ft. A total of 6,846 cusecs outflow was recorded with Right Canal drawing 5,496 cusecs and Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project (Srisailam Left Bank Canal) drawing 1,350 cusecs.
Telangana Irrigation officials stated that judicious use of available water for drinking needs was discussed for over two hours as well as auditing of the decisions taken in the October 2023 meeting and the present needs. The October meeting decided to allocate 45 tmc ft to AP and 35 tmc ft to Telangana.
The ENC of A.P. brought to the notice of the board that they were yet to utilise 5 tmc ft water out of the allocation made in October but Telangana had drawn 7 tmc ft excess water against its allocation and sought at least 5 tmc ft water to meet the State’s immediate drinking water needs.
However, Telangana ENC contended that A.P. had drawn more than its allocation but its drawals were not accounted for. He asked the river board not to allow any amount of water from Srisailam for any need, stating that Telangana was facing a severe drinking water problem below Nagarjunasagar and the drinking water was being supplied through tankers at several places.
As of Saturday morning, Srisailam has water storage of 33.96 tmc ft against its capacity of 215.81 tmc ft and level of 809.4 ft against full reservoir level of 885 ft.
Requesting the board to give as much water as possible to Telangana from the Left Canal, he stated that apart from State Capital Hyderabad, Suryapet, Nalgonda, Mahabubabad and Khammam districts were depending on water from Nagarjunasagar for their drinking needs and also take into consideration the population of Hyderabad. The A.P. ENC also sought release of as much water as possible to their State from Right Canal.
