The government of Karnataka has decided to release 2.5 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) water from Narayanpur reservoir across Krishna River to Telangana for meeting drinking water needs of people of Mahabubnagar district.
The water will be released from Narayanpur reservoir to the Jurala project to cater to the drinking water needs. In view of the water levels steeply coming down in the reservoirs of Mahabubnagar district, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had requested his Karnataka counterpart HD Kumaraswamy for release of water.
According to a statement from the Telangana Chief Minister's Office, “the diplomatic, friendly and cordial relationship adopted by KCR with the Karnataka government to overcome the drinking water problem of people of Mahabubnagar district has yielded fruitful results.”
On KCR's request, the Karnataka Chief Minister after discussions with the officials decided to release the water.
Kumaraswamy personally telephoned KCR and informed about this. KCR described the move as happy and good news to the Mahabubnagar people. On behalf of the people of the district, he conveyed his thanks to Kumaraswamy.
Both the Chief Ministers have expressed their desire that the cordial and friendly relationship between the two states should continue forever, said the statement.
Water supply to Jurala will commence from Friday evening, the water has to travel 240 km from Almatti. As of Friday, the water stored at Jurala is only 1.93 TMC against the full capacity of 9.66 TMC. Last year the storage on the same day (May 3) was 3.54 TMC. The poor water level in the reservoir has forced the officials to excavate an approach channel in the river bed in March to draw water for Mission Bhagirata pump house, reported The Hindu.
Earlier in 2018, Telangana had helped Karnataka by allowing the state to use one TMC of water from Telangana’s share in Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS). Telangana had requested for 3 TMN of water and Karnataka has released 2.5 TMC.