Vijayawada: Check dams on paper while water goes waste

Vijayawada: With huge amount of water being released into the sea from Prakasam Barrage, the need for construction of check dams in downstream areas of the barrage has come into play once again. Even though the irrigation department proposed construction of check dams after demands raised by experts and people of downstream area, the plan has not materialised so far. As a result, a huge amount of water, which would otherwise had been stored, is being released into the sea since the last few days.

Meanwhile, experts believe that check dams are useful not only for storing water but also increasing the groundwater level. It may be noted that the state government had made proposals to construct check dams on Krishna River in the down stream areas of Prakasam barrage. While there is generally a water scarcity in Krishna River, officials are not in a position to store the flood water in rainy season as well.

Meanwhile, several parts in east and west Krishna areas face drinking water problem. Moreover, groundwater is also not available in hundreds of villages in Krishna district. Another problem faced by the residents is the increase in the salt content of the groundwater in several mandals in east Krishna. As a result, even the available water in many areas in Machilipatnam is not fit for drinking purpose.

Also, the high level of salt content in groundwater affects the productivity of the soil thus affecting its producing capacity. The farming community has already submitted a report to the Central government in this regard. Likewise, erstwhile VUDA revealed in its study that the check dams can be useful as a tourism projects also. In this backdrop, several irrigation experts and villagers of east Krishna had demanded the government to construct check dams.