Vijayawada: All reservoirs under Krishna river are showing minimum water levels less than their minimum draw down level (MDDL) due to poor rains in Krishna catchment area, especially Maharashtra.
As per the irrigation department, at least 600 mm rainfall was supposed to be registered in the last couple of weeks, but only 200 mm was recorded.
Irrigation experts said a couple of months are needed to fill all reservoirs of Krishna if they get 30 tmc ft of water from continuous rains. Reservoirs upst-ream Krishna may not release water from their minimal reserves now. At present, 19.69 tmc ft of water is available at Almatti reservoir against full capacity of 129.71 tmc ft.
Nearly 35 tmc ft of water is available in Almatti reservoir in the same period last year.
Water level currently is 834.4 feet at Srisailam as against its MDDL of 834 feet and the level is 516.9 feet at Nagarjuna Sagar as against its 510 feet MDDL level. The meagre water release is sufficient to supply water only to Andhra Pradesh. As per the estimates, at least 10 tmc ft of water is needed for drinking water purposes and another 10 tmc ft of water is required for seed beds in the coming kharif season in Krishna delta. The situation looks grim and may worsen in the near future says Y. Nagendranath, president of AP Farmers Federation.
