Jurala lifts Srisailam levels, inflows still less compared to last year

HYDERABAD: With Priyadarshini Jurala Project(PJP) receiving over 42,000 cusecs of water from upper reaches and releasing 41,013 cusecs downstream on Sunday, the Srisailam dam received an inflow of 23,000 cusecs.

Under the Krishna basin, the water level at Srisailam stood at 808.9 feet and the reservoir held a total quantum of 33.67 TMC of water. Nagarjuna Sagar received 2,701 cusecs, Pulichintala received 9,923 cusecs, and inflow at Prakasam Barrage was 15,698 cusecs. Nearly the same amount of water was released into the Bay of Bengal.

Under the Godavari basin, Sripada Yellampally received 10,887 cusecs, followed by 60,395 cusecs at Sri Ram Sagar Project.

However, the present water position of major reservoirs in Telugu States was less compared to the figures on the same day last year i.e. July 23, 2022. Srisailam's capacity (total quantum of water present in the reservoir) last year was 202.04 TMC compared to the present capacity of 33.67 TMC.

Nagarjuna Sagar’s present capacity is 143.51 TMC, compared to 183.98 TMC last year. The Pulichintala project's present capacity was 18.01 TMC compared to last year’s 38.18 TMC.

The situation was no different in the Godavari basin even though the inflows were higher compared to that of projects built on Krishna River.

Singur project capacity was 21.04 TMC on Sunday morning compared to last year’s 28.22 TMC, Nizamsagar's capacity was 10.83 TMC compared to last year's 14.93 TMC, SRSP’s capacity was 60.35 TMC compared to 75.47 TMC last year, Mid Manair and Lower Manair projects had 5 TMC less capacity compared to last year.

However, with the IMD forecasting rains for five more days all over Telangana and in catchment areas in the upper riparian States of Karnataka and Maharashtra, the water levels in all major projects were expected to increase to their expected seasonal levels.