The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Friday released water for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for drinking water purpose. Their decision comes following the heavy inflow of water in the Srisailam project.
The board has decided that Andhra Pradesh will get 25 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water and Telangana will get 30 tmc up to August for their drinking water needs.
The water released from Srisailam will be as follows: For Andhra Pradesh, the Board has allocated 9 tmc for Pothireddypadu head regulator and 5 tmc for Handri-Neeva Srujala Sravanthi (HNSS).
For Telangana, 10 tmc for the MGKLIS (Kalwakurthy project) has been allocated.
The releases from Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) will be as following:
For Andhra Pradesh, the board has allocated 7.5 tmc for NSP right canal and 3.5 tmc for NSP left canal. MEanwhile, for Telangana, 6 tmc for HMWS&SB and Nalgonda district, 2 tmc for Mission Bhagiratha and 12 tmc for NSP left canal.
The water release order, issued by KRMB on Friday, will be applicable for the balance days in July and August.
As on Friday, the net availability of water in two common reservoirs stood at a total of 84.62 tmc with 82.749 tmc at Srisailam reservoir and 1.871 tmc in the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP). The drinking water requirement for the two states is plugged at 55 tmc in July and August. With KRMB releasing 52 tmc, a majority of the needs can be met from Srisailam.
“To meet the requirements of both the states from Nagarjuna Sagar project and to enable adequate releases from NSP left canal, a level of about 520 feet may be required to be maintained. Hence, about 52 tmc is to be released from Srisailam to Nagarjuna Sagar project, which includes transmission and evaporation losses,” the KRMB order stated.
The 52 tmc of water will be released from July 28 to August 22 for 26 days at 2 tmc per day from Srisailam project to Nagarjuna Sagar project, mostly through powerhouses so as to derive power generation benefits in the agreed ratio of 50:50.
In case of no power demand or the releases are not per actual requirements by the Genco authorities, the balance water may be released through river sluices from Srisailam project, Board member secretary Paramesham said in the orders.
The releases through NSP Left canal may be made to meet the requirements of both the states simultaneously to minimise the losses, the board has decided. The balance water available at NSP, if any, after meeting the requirements specified in the release order, may be kept aside for exigencies, the order read.
Srisailam storage level reaches 143 tmcft
The water storage at the Srisailam dam reached 143.41 tmcft on Friday with the inflows still being heavy. The Tungabhadra reservoir had 94.46 tmcft of water as against the full storage capacity of 100.86 tmcft. As at 6 pm on Friday, the inflows to Srisailam were 1,78,097 cusecs and the outflows 15,013 cusecs. As against the 215.81 tmcft capacity, the capacity on was 143.41 tmcft, which is 66 per cent of the capacity.
KRMB member-secretary A Paramesham held telephonic conversations with irrigation engineers-in-chief of both the states on Thursday and Friday and decided to release water, reported the New Indian Express.