Telangana: Krishna, Godavari Facing Bleak Days, Little Rain in Upper Reaches

Hyderabad: Telangana is staring a severe water deficit year as things stand, and no good news about the monsoon from Maharashtra and Karnataka is adding to the state’s rain woes. Consequently, the state of the two major rivers – Krishna and Godavari, the two lifelines for Telangana – and their immediate and near future conditions, have become a matter of concern.

This is especially so because as on Thursday, June 18, Maharashtra and Karnataka, from where the two rivers receive most of their water, have cumulative deficits of around 70 per cent, and 35 per cent, with no immediate signs of things turning better in the weeks to come.

While the immediate worry for Telangana officials was figuring out whether any water would be available for irrigation, the real concern should be whether the state was geared up to meet possible serious challenges on the drinking water supply front.

Sources familiar with the current situation, told Deccan Chronicle that as things stood now, irrigating crops was ruled out this kharif season. “Drinking water is always the top priority, as it should be. Irrigating crops comes next, and only if there is water to go around for this purpose. At present, the second appears a very remote possibility, there is hardly any water in the canals, and whatever is there must be saved for drinking water,” a senior government official said.

If need be, the government must take a bold decision of declaring a crop holiday this year as even rain-fed crops may be under threat, the official added.

Though the current levels of water at major reservoirs was slightly better now than what it was at the same time last year, planning was required to meet the worst case scenario in view of possibility of no fresh flows. “What if the monsoon fails further? The water will have to last not only till the start of the next monsoon but well into the period the next year’s rain takes hold and fills the reservoirs. This means the state has to be geared up with plans to use the existing water for the next 14 months to ensure people get water to drink,” the official said.

The sources said that the government must plan for a scenario where there are no inflows from Maharashtra and Karnataka into the Krishna and Godavari rivers this year. The current rain deficit of 28.09 per cent in Telangana, has only added to the worries as even the local catchments of these two rivers so far have not done well.

The story in the upper and middle reaches of Godavari and Krishna are precarious, sources said, adding that any likelihood of even reasonable inflows into reservoirs on these rivers in Telangana, for now, appears remote.

The best case scenario looks at some two to three tmc ft of water flowing into all of the structures on Godavari in Telangana that can actually store water till the end of July. Ironically, in the best case scenario of the monsoon picking up in the upper reaches in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the most water – around 300 tmc ft — expected to flow through the Godavari will be at the Medigadda barrage. Since the barrage was not repaired ever since a portion of it caved in October 2023, not a single drop can be stored there, according to the sources.

The same appears to be the case with the Krishna river with nominal flows expected at Jurala, the first dam on the river in Telangana, with similar expectations at the downstream Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs.

Meanwhile, officials cautioned that the government should not get complacent because the initial monsoon spells in some districts resulted in some inflows in some areas, as in Khammam district. “This is at best a case of sporadic event, and there may be more such rain spells that can provide a false sense of security, caution must be exercised against generalising decent rain spells into something that makes one feel good,” the sources said.