VIJAYAWADA: Amidst fear that heavy inflow of water into Krishna river from Pulichinthala Project and other sources and also discharge of huge quantum of water from Prakasam barrage downstream into the sea might affect flood banks of the river and cause submergence of low-lying areas along the course of the river on either side, water resources authorities ruled out any such trouble unless the river receives maximum flood water of eight to 11 lakh cusecs.
At present, nearly 4.98 lakh cusecs of water is being discharged from Prakasam barrage by lifting all its 70 crest gates to the full-level into downstream, to get emptied into Bay of Bengal, as the river has been getting inflow of same quantum of water from Pulichinthala and other sources.
With some relief in rainfall in catchment areas of the river, located in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the authorities concerned are expecting no major inflow of water into Krishna river beyond the next 24 hours and this means, as quantum of inflow of water into the river dips, the quantum of discharge of water from the barrage also will be reduced, ruling out any major trouble like breaches to the flood banks.
However, the water resources authorities issued first warning -level in the early hours of the day as the discharge from the barrage was registered at more than 3.96 lakh cusecs of water and later in the day, second warning-level was also issued when the discharge of water from the barrage was registered at 4.08 lakh cusecs. Water-level in the river is now continuing at the ful-llevel of 13.4 metres.
The authorities concerned said that when the discharge of water will be about six lakh cusecs, the water-level may rise in the river and reach up to the brim of flood banks. In 2009, when the discharge of water was recorded at 11 lakh cusecs, the flood banks of the river on either side got submerged at some places while the low-lying areas, along the flood banks, also suffered inundation.
The authorities concerned ruled out such situation at present in Krishna river as the inflow of water into the river has been slowly coming down.
Moreover, heavy inflow of water into Krishna river all the way from upstream at Amaravati to downstream at Prakasam barrage and further downstream at Avanigadda, until the water empties into the sea, the entire stretch of length is to be over 100 km distance and the people living in low-lying areas, along the river course on either side, need to be on high alert for possible inundation.
Krishna Delta System chief engineer R. Satish Kumar said: “As we are not expecting heavy inflow of water from Pulichinthala Project into Krishna river, in the hours ahead, and as we are releasing whatever quantum of water is being received into the river again into the Bay of Bengal from Prakasam barrage, we don’t expect any trouble to flood banks of the river on either side of its course, except for inundation of some low-lying areas along the river course. High alert has already been sounded, advising people to be on alert in low-lying areas.”
