AP Replies to CWC; justifies Polavaram-Banakacherla project

Vijayawada:Andhra Pradesh government has replied to a series of queries raised by the Central Water Commission (CWC) on the preliminary report of the proposed Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project of AP, aimed at diverting Godavari River’s flood water from Polavaram to Banakacherla.

In its reply, the Water Resources department of AP has informed the Hydrology wing of CWC that the project has been conceptualised keeping in mind the Planning Commission’s recommendation. This stipulates that the essentiality of an irrigation project can be considered viable provided it is in consonance with the 2010 guidelines of preparing the detailed project reports (DPRs) of irrigation and multi-purpose projects.

The Water Resources department has asserted that the proposed diversion of 200 TMC feet of water is based entirely on the monsoon season’s surplus flood waters of the Godavari River at Polavaram within the 75–50 per cent dependability range. To address the natural mismatch between seasonal water availability and year-round demand for irrigation, domestic and industrial needs, a tentative live storage facility with 152 TMC feet capacity is to be arranged at the Bollapalli Reservoir to store nearly 75 per cent of the proposed volume of water to be diverted.

AP has assured the CWC that it will submit project-wise utilisation data for existing, ongoing and planned projects that influence the water availability for the proposed Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project. The net water availability for the proposed diversion has been assessed by accounting for water allocations made to various co-basin states under the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal Award and by factoring in the water demand of all the existing, ongoing and pending projects in the basin.

There is the issue of CWC asking that once all five co-basin states – Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh – utilise their full entitlements under the GWDT Award at 75 per cent dependability, there will be no unutilised allocations within the dependable yield. To this, AP’s response is that only the flows in excess of the 75 per cent dependable yield at Polavaram will be considered available for diversion.

AP’s stand is that the bifurcation of individual state-wise entitlements become redundant for the purpose of estimating surplus water when the aggregate 75 per cent of dependable yield is fully accounted for.

AP maintains that during the monsoon period, there are sufficient flood days to enable the diversion of 200 TMC feet of flood water. The state asserts that the proposed diversion of 2.0 TMC feet of water per day has been carefully determined based on hydrological evidence and system constraints.

The Water Resources department says the simulation results in this regard confirm the hydrological viability of diverting 200 TMC feet of water during the monsoon season, thereby substantiating the basis for the proposed Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project.