Water Shortage Must be Overcome: AP Engineer-in-Chief Narasimha Murthy

Amaravati: The state water resources department Engineer-in-Chief Narasimha Murthy said steps would have to be taken to overcome the water shortage, noting that the sharp decline in Godavari inflows had been unexpected.

“We never expected the Godavari to witness such low inflows. We are seeing the flow decline from lakhs of cusecs to just thousands of cusecs,” he said.

Murthy said the situation in the Godavari delta would be studied on Friday. While the situation appeared somewhat hopeful for the Godavari delta, a water deficit had emerged in the Krishna basin, he said.

The Krishna delta normally requires around 150 TMC of water even when there is adequate rainfall, he said, adding that the requirement would be higher in the absence of rains.

He said priority would be given to drinking water while taking decisions based on water availability.