Hyderabad: The three-member working group of the Krishna River Management Board decided on Friday to allot 6 tmc ft to Telangana state and 16 tmc ft to Andhra Pradesh that is to be used only for drinking water requirements, till further review.
The board had allotted 2 tmc ft to Telangana state in its previous order. The fresh allotment of 6 tmc ft includes 4 tmc ft for the Kalwakurthy lift irrigation scheme (to be drawn from Srisailam dam), and 1 tmc ft each for the drinking water needs of Hyderabad and Nalgonda.
The 16 tmc ft of water allotted to AP includes 5 tmc ft each to Srisailam Right Branch Canal (through the Pothireddypadu head regulator) and Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi, and 6 tmc ft for Nagarjunasagar Right Main Canal (for Guntur and Prakasam districts), again for drinking purpose.
The quantum of water already drawn by both states recently, without referring to the board, will be included in these latest allotments.
The working group consists of board member secretary Sameer Chatterjee and engineers-in-chief C. Muralidhar (Telangana state) and M. Venkateswara Rao (Andhra Pradesh).
It was decided to convene the full board meeting in the second week of October to take a fresh look at the inflows and storage position at the Srisailam dam and decide on allotments for irrigation purposes.
While talking to mediapersons, Mr Chatterjee made clear the board’s view that the Minimum Water Draw Down Level for Nagarjunasagar dam (510 ft) and Srisailam (854 ft) should be maintained under any circumstances, and instructed the chief engineers of both the dams to stick to this rule.
The board also ordered release of an additional 10 tmc ft of water from Srisailam to Nagarajunasagar dam in order to maintain the MDDL of 510 ft and ordered all releases for drinking purpose from Nagarjunasagar to be over and above the MDDL.
