Conserving Water For Drinking Everyone’s Primary Responsibility: Tummala
The minister asked farmers to examine current weather conditions and availability of water, electricity, and groundwater before choosing the crops for cultivation.
Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao on Monday stressed that conserving water resources is everyone’s responsibility, with the primary focus being on meeting the drinking water needs of people on a priority basis in the light of Super El Nino.
Inspecting the Dummugudem anicut dam located near Ammagaripalli of Ashwapuram mandal in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, the minister pointed water reserves post the southwest monsoon clearly indicate that there will be severe water scarcity during the coming summer.
“Given the circumstances, everyone should consider conservation of water as their primary responsibility,” Tummala underlined.
He referred to predictions of a significant rise in temperatures during the coming summer, which would lead to increased electricity consumption, potentially resulting in power shortages.
Keeping this in mind, the state government led by Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy is making the necessary arrangements in advance to prevent power shortages during the summer.
The minister asked farmers to examine current weather conditions and availability of water, electricity, and groundwater before choosing the crops for cultivation.
He instructed officials to coordinate effectively to ensure that only surplus water, which would remain after meeting drinking water requirements, is diverted for other purposes, including agriculture.
Tummala revealed that though the Dummugudem barrage has a total storage capacity of 0.8 TMC, they have been able to store only 0.5 TMC of water. In this regard, he said the Chief Minister has directed officials to evaluate the technical aspects to maximise water storage through use of sandbags.
