Copious rains bring truce between AP, TS

Copious rains bring truce between AP, TS
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Copious rains in the catchment area bringing heavy inflows into the Srisailam reservoir gave a breather for the inter-state hostility between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the sharing of Krishna waters. Of course, the water-starved people in the Rayalaseema region too got delighted by the bountiful nature.

Amaravati: Copious rains in the catchment area bringing heavy inflows into the Srisailam reservoir gave a breather for the inter-state hostility between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the sharing of Krishna waters. Of course, the water-starved people in the Rayalaseema region too got delighted by the bountiful nature.

Close on the heels of a letter written by the AP government to the Krishna River Management Board seeking release of water from the Nagarjunasagar project to meet the drinking water needs of the state, the Srisailam dam upstream received a huge volume of 15tmcft by Sunday night.

This obviously made way for the release of around 1.50 lakh cusecs into the Nagarjunasagar dam. According to official sources, inflows of 1.92 lakh cusecs reached Srisailam, taking the levels up to 90.56tmctft over the gross storage capacity of 215.81tmcft.


With the water level crossing the 854.5ft mark, people of the Rayalaseema region are eagerly waiting for the largesse of the Krishna river. It is expected that water from Srisailam will be released in a day or two through the Pothireddipadu head regulator and Handri Neeva to help pick up Kharif operations and meet drinking needs in Rayalaseema.

Meanwhile, Nandyal MP SPY Reddy on Monday tried to release water from Srisailam to the Pothireddipadu head regulator due to pressure from farmers of Kurnool district for irrigation needs.

He gave up his attempts following an assurance from minister D Umamaheshwar Rao that he would take measures for the water release within a couple of days. However, officials expressed helplessness to concede the MP’s request saying that water cannot be released from Srisailam unless it reaches 870ft mark.

The present water level in Nagarjunasagar is 500.9ft against its full reservoir level of 590ft. As of now, inflows from Srisailam are yet to reach the Nagarjunasagar dam.

At present, the Telangana government reportedly lifted all 18 gates of Jurala and is drawing around 1.35 lakh cusecs and is generating power at upper and lower power houses. The inflow and outflow of Almatti is same as of now (36,746 cusecs) and outflow of Narayanapur project was more than inflows on Monday, officials from the Irrigation department said.

The rising water levels in the Srisailam project give rise to hopes over the release of 6tmc water for drinking purpose in the Nagarjunasagar right canal ayacut area of Guntur and Prakasam.

By K Varaprasada Rao

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