No Water Sharing Pact at 2nd Meet With KRMB

Hyderabad: With the impact of El Niño looming on water availability in the Krishna river this year, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Friday stuck to their guns on what each should get from the river, even as they charged each other with illegal drawals from the river.

While Telangana said AP was drawing more than its share of water illegally from Pothireddypadu and Veligonda projects, AP accused Telangana of using its Srisailam left bank power house to draw water from Srisailam and send it to Nagarjunasagar, from where it was releasing the flows to the rest of the state.

In the end, officials from both sides said another meeting would be held in the last of this month at which KRMB said it would take a decision on their water allocation demands.

At Thursday’s meeting, Andhra Pradesh said any water sharing till August 2027 should be in the 66:34 ratio between AP and Telangana, which it said was in vogue after the two states agreed to this sharing arrangement in the past. However, Telangana said that initial agreement was a temporary one and that for the past three years it had maintained that pending a final decision by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT)-II on water sharing, any apportionment in the interim must be on a 50:50 basis.

Telangana irrigation engineer-in-chief (general) O.V. Ramesh Babu told reporters after the meeting that “it was made clear to the KRMB that Telangana requires 200 tmc ft of water to meet its drinking water needs, while AP is asking for 104 tmc ft. We rejected the 66:34 share demand by AP and said any sharing must be on a 50:50 basis.”

Ramesh Babu also said that it was time for the KRMB limit AP’s drawing of water from Srisailam reservoir for its Pothireddypadu project, and now from the newly inaugurated Veligonda project. “AP can use 19 tmc ft of flood waters from Pothireddypadu, but there are no floods, and AP is all set to cross this limits. They are also taking around 3,000 cusecs from Veligonda,” he said.

Incidentally, as on Friday, between Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs, the available water was just round 142 tmc ft. Only if there are releases from Karnataka, large floods or heavy rain in the river’s catchment in Telangana can the two states expect any meaningful additions to the water levels in the two reservoirs.

Meanwhile, the AP engineer-in-chief (general) K. Narasimha Murthy said consensus could not be reached at the meeting. “We asked that water allocation should be as per the agreed to 66:34 ratio, but Telangana, citing El Nino, said it should be on a 50:50 ratio. We said AP needs 104 tmn ft till August 2027, while Telangana said it needs 200 tmc ft, which we said was unreasonable,” he said.

He said AP had also informed the KRMB that Telangana was drawing water from the left bank powerhouse under its control at Srisailam though there was no need for generating any hydroelectricity from there at this point of time. “As far as Pothireddypadu and Veligonda are concerned, we are taking water from what should be our share and are not encroaching of shares of anyone else. We need to ensure there is drinking water in Rayalaseema, Markapuram and Palnadu and other districts,” he said.

Infograph

Srisailam capacity: 215.8 tmc ft

Nagarjunasagar capacity: 312.045 tmc ft

Used by Telangana this year: 44.216 tmc ft (39.49%)

Used by AP this year: 67.75 tmc ft (60.51%)

Telangana demand: 200 tmc ft for drinking water

AP demand: 104 tmc ft for drinking water

Share must be in 66:34 ratio, says AP

Share must be in 50:50 ratio, says Telangana

Telangana says AP overdrawing from Pothireddypady, Veligonda

AP says Telangana drawing water from Srisailam Left Bank power house