Drinking Water Needs: KRMB Puts Off Decision to Sept 4
Ramesh Babu said that Telangana’s stand was that any water sharing between the two states in this El Nino year, must be on a 50:50 basis. The board said it will decide at the next meeting on this, he added.
Hyderabad:The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has said that any available water in Krishna river at this point of time in the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs should be used only to meet drinking water needs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana irrigation engineer-in-chief O.V. Ramesh Babu told reporters after a meeting of the KRMB’s three-member committee comprising the board’s member secretary and the ENCs of the two states, that a decision on how much water each state can use for drinking water, will be decided on September 4. “The board said there will be another meeting on that date when a decision will be taken on the requests and shares of water for Telangana and AP,” he said.
Ramesh Babu said that Telangana’s stand was that any water sharing between the two states in this El Nino year, must be on a 50:50 basis. The board said it will decide at the next meeting on this, he added.
It may be recalled that Telangana had been maintaining that AP had already used more than its allocated share from both reservoirs, and that it requires around 50 tmc ft from Krishna to meet drinking water needs till August 2027. On the other hand, AP had been asking for 47 tmc ft for its drinking water needs for the same period. Around 115 tmc ft of water is available in the two reservoirs at present.
