TS to pour out water woes at KRMB meet tomorrow

Hyderabad: The KRMB (Krishna River Management Board) meeting to be held on Thursday in Hyderabad assumes importance in the wake of low water levels in all the projects and reservoirs in the state which threatens to cause acute water shortage. The monsoon last year was bad and the inflows were low.

The government is under pressure for release of water for irrigation but it has directed the officials not to do so as it could lead to serious problem for supplying drinking water. In the backdrop of this situation, the KRMB meeting becomes important. According to Irrigation officials, they would submit a detailed report on the water crisis to the board and will explain how Andhra Pradesh had exploited available water resources from River Krishna. The State government, it may be recalled, has been asking for 50:50 share in the Krishna water. Irrigation officials said that Telangana and AP had been sharing water in the 34:66 ratio since the formation of Telangana in 2014.

Water requirement for Telangana has increased after the development of new ayacut and mission Bhagiratha for irrigation and drinking water needs.

On the other hand, AP lodged a complaint against Telangana for using 41 tmc-ft of water, six tmc-ft more than what was allotted to them. The Telangana government on Wednesday would explain to the KRMB the need for more water to meet the impending water crisis this year.

Meanwhile, there is some cheer for the country which is reeling under heat wave conditions. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APCC) Climate Center in its first monsoon forecast for India this year for the periods of April to June and July to September said India will receive above average rainfall (good monsoon) this year.

According to the report, there is a change in the earlier prediction on low rainfall. The reason for this latest prediction is due to an ENSO alert that anticipates a smooth shift from El Nino to La Nina condition.

The APCC introduced an ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) alert system update on March 15, 2024. The ENSO status predicts a La Nina Watch for the period of April to September 2024.

The APCC Climate Center, in its report, said: “Enhanced probability for above-normal precipitation is predicted for the region spanning eastern Africa to the Arabian Sea, India, the Bay of Bengal, and Indonesia, the Caribbean Sea, the tropical North Atlantic, southern Australia, and the southern South Pacific. A tendency for above-normal precipitation is expected for some regions of East Asia and northern Australia.”

Earlier, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had said that India is likely to embrace abundant rainfall during monsoon this year, under the reduced influence of El Nino and significant La-Nina conditions in the Pacific region after May.