Hyderabad: Krishna River Management Board member-secretary Sameer Chatterjee on Saturday met Engineers-in-Chief, C. Muralidhar (TS) and M. Venkateswara Rao (AP), to decide the water release from the available Krishna storage at both Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar for September. The meeting quantified the available storage at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar (up to Minimum Draw Down Level) as 82 tmc ft. Of this, AP’s eligibility was 43.65 tmc ft and TS eligibility was put at 38.35 tmc ft.
As far as water release for September is concerned, AP sought 36 tmc ft from its quota — 10 tmc ft each for Krishna delta and Nagarjunasagar right canal and 2 tmc ft for NS left canal, 10 tmc ft for Pothireddypadu head regulator (Telugu Ganga, Srisailam right branch canal) and 4 tmc ft for Handri-Neeva scheme (from foreshore of Srisailam dam). The Board agreed.
At this stage, Mr Muralidhar informed the Board that considering the indents by both the states up to September-end, AP’s eligibility beyond September will be about 7.65 tmc ft only (43.65 minus 36). Unless inflows are received in September, the state would be at risk of scarcity. The Board decided to allot 12.50 tmc ft for Nagarjunasagar left canal and 2.50 tmc ft for the drinking water needs of Hyderabad and Nalgonda. Mr Muralidhar said TS would use the balance waters from its share in October and November.
