Hyderabad: Considering the growing demand for drinking water in TS and AP, the Krishna River Management Board has ordered release of 9 TMC ft of water from the “balanced storage” available at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams.
This release is being considered as the last withdrawal of water from the dams, especially from the dead storage levels, due to failure of monsoon as well as poor inflows in 2015.
However, the KRMB has decided to keep about 10 TMC ft of water from both dams available at the lower levels “for any eventuality of delayed monsoon in 2016” and also for utilisation in June 2016.
Srisailam Dam Minimum Draw Down Level (MDDL) is 854 ft against a Full Reservoir Level of 885 ft. On Saturday it stood at 785.3 ft, with 22.41 TMC ft storage. With the KRMB’s decision, water will now be drawn down to 775 ft.
At Nagarjunasagar Dam, the MDDL is 510 ft against an FRL of 590 ft. On Saturday, it was 506.7 ft. In order to ensure that water reaches the Praka-sam barrage, 180 km downstream, to cater to the drinking needs of Krishna and Guntur districts including the cities of Vijayawada and Guntur, water will be released from Nagarjunasagar Dam down to the level of 503 ft through river sluice gates.
