GUNTUR: The catchment area of Prakasam Barrage is 2.51 lakh square km and it fulfils drinking and irrigation water needs of Guntur city, Mangalagiri, Tenali and other areas of Guntur district, Vijayawada city and other areas of Krishna district and several parts of the Prakasam district.
Commamur canal, which is a subsidiary of Buckingham canal of Krishna travels 113 km of length in Guntur district and supplies drinking/irrigation water needs of 24 mandals of Guntur district. The fall in the water levels stopped water supply to these people besides Guntur city.
Seethanagaram, Tadepalli, Undavalli, Mangalagiri, Mandadam and adjacent areas of the Amaravati capital region dependent on Krishna river water. The Buckingham canal and Guntur channel are the main source of water to these areas. The people of Seethanagaram situated besides Krishna river also are also facing severe shortage of drinking water.
Elders of Seethanagaram, N. Yedukondalu and others said they never saw drying up of Prakasam Barrage in the past 60 years. They lamented that this is the first time they are seeing dried sand like islands in the reservoir at Prakasam Barrage.
The people of Mandadam near the temporary Secretariat staged a protest on Saturday alleging absence of the drinking water supply. Similar water scarcity conditions are prevailing in the Amaravati capital region and the locals are demanding supply of drinking water at least through tankers.
Meanwhile, the water level in the Krishna River reservoir at Prakasam Barrage was 16 meet on 23 October 2013 and later the water level started to fall and now totally decreased to 4 feet. 12 feet of water level registered in June 2015, fell to 11 feet in August 2015 and further decreased to 9 feet in December last.
During February this year, water level dropped to 8.4 feet, to 7.5 feet, 6 feet and 5.3 feet in April.
Now the water level dropped to 4 feet which became a worry to the public of Guntur, Vijayawada and majority areas of the Guntur and Krishna districts.
