Hyderabad: The water level at the Srisailam dam rose past the Minimum Draw Down Level (MDDL) of 854 ft on the back of an average of 1.7 lakh cusecs flowing in from the Jurala project on Monday.
The full reservoir level at Srisailam is 885 feet; the water stood at 855 ft on Monday evening against 848.30 ft on Sunday. The reservoir now has 90 tmc ft against the full capacity of 225 tmc ft.
Jurala received 2 lakh cusecs in the morning from the Bheema and Krishna rivers, which reduced to 1.7 lakh cusecs by the evening. “We hope the pattern will continue for three days,” Srisailam chief engineer C. Narayana Reddy said.
The improved water levels led to the TS and AP governments going to the Krishna River Management Board seeking release of water for drinking.
According to Mr Narayana Reddy, the AP government sought 15 tmc ft of water for the Handri-Neeva and Te-lugu Ganga projects, Srisailam Right Branch Canal and Chennai. “We hope for favourable orders,” he said.
Nagarjunasagar dam chief engineer S. Suneel told this newspaper that the TS government had sought more than 50 tmc ft to meet its drinking water requirements till 2018.
He said the water level at Nagarjunasagar was at 500.9 ft. “First of all we need to maintain Minimum Draw Down Level which is at 510 feet at Nagarjunasagar. For this we require 15 tmc ft of water. To meet Hyderabad’s drinking water requirements till June 2018 we require 16 tmc ft, Four tmc ft is needed for Nalgonda city and to fill up tanks in Nalgonda and Khammam districts.”
He said the TS government had sought another 16 tmc ft to provide water from the dam for Mission Bhagiratha.
He said the TS government would not seek water for irrigation purposes till the Srisailam dam attains full level.
