VIJAYAWADA: For the very first time in a rainy season, nearly 40 tmcft of Krishna river water was discharged into the sea from Prakasam barrage beginning from June. It was neither stored nor used for kharif cultivation in Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana government, having started generation of hydel power from Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala projects upstream the river from June 1, it started releasing water even as storage level in the project was considerably less for power generation. The water released thus and inflows from local sources started flowing downstream crossing the major and medium projects one after another before eventually reaching Prakasam barrage.
As the reservoir at Prakasam barrage has a storage capacity of only 3.07 tmcft, water resources authorities lifted the gates after filling up the reservoir to the brim. All inflows of water in the reservoir have become outflows into the sea through the barrage. Authorities estimate that nearly 40 tmcft of water has been drained out into the sea so far.
Following heavy rainfall in catchment areas of Krishna river upstream in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana in the last few days, upstream projects like Almatti, Tungabhadra, and Jurala received huge inflows and at present, the quantum of inflow is coming down. This will impact downstream projects and compel authorities to store them in reservoirs.
Officials say that following demand for water for cultivation during kharif season, they are receiving calls from farmers from nearly 13 lakh command area of Right Main Canal of Nagarjuna Sagar project spread over West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts as to when water will be released so that they will take up farm works. Authorities are wondering whether they will be able to ensure supply of adequate quantum to the farmers as both inflow and outflow from upstream projects is dwindling.
Water resources authorities and farmers are of the opinion that a huge quantity of water has been drained out into the sea whereas it should have been stored for cultivation.
Krishna river conservator A. Raja Swaroop Kumar said “Nearly 40 tmcft of water from Krishna river has been discharged into the sea from Prakasam barrage. We are getting water from upstream projects. Ideally, we used to store water to cater to the requirements in kharif season.”
Meanwhile, there is a demand mainly from the farmers to expedite construction of Chodavaram and Bandiprolulanka projects downstream the river from the barrage, located 12 kms and 62 kms respectively, at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore. This is in addition to the Vykuntapuram project upstream the river located at a 23-km distance at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. The three projects have the capacity to store 20 tmcft of water together and will help avoid wastage of precious water into the sea from the barrage located nearly 102 kms away.
