Shutting down Kaleshwaram hits Yellampalli, SRSP, Manair, water levels in Jurala hit rock bottom,

HYDERABAD: Almost all projects and connected reservoirs under the Godavari basin in Telangana are reeling under severe drought conditions with the forced shutdown of the multi-stage Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP).

Even though 5,000 cusecs of Godavari-Pranahitha water is reaching the Medigadda barrage every day, engineers are unable to retain that water due to the sagging of three pillars. Similarly, 2.5 TMC of water was emptied from the Annaram barrage as sand boiling was identified in certain parts of the barrage.

As a result of this, no water is being lifted from the KLIP system affecting the water levels in Yellampalli, SRSP, Upper Manair, Mid Manair, and Lower Manair reservoirs affecting irrigation and drinking water supply in north Telangana.

As a result, the 50 TMC ‘mother reservoir’ Mallanna Sagar under KLIP is holding only 9.9 TMC, 16.17 TMC Medigadda, and 10.87 TMC Annaram barrages are holding no water at all, 15 TMC Kondapochamma reservoir is holding 5.5 TMC and the 3 TMC Ranganayaka Sagar is holding 1.12 TMC. Down the line of KLIP, the 29.917 TMC Singur has 18.784 TMC of Manjeera water, which is a tributary of River Godavari.

Compared to last year the reservoir levels in almost all projects under Godavari have come down drastically. In March 2023 Yellampally was holding 14.34 TMC compared to 8.72 TMC this March. Water levels came down to 9.43 TMC in Mid Manair from 20.26 TMC and from 12.19 TMC to 5.20 TMC in Lower Manair. The damaged gate at the 5 TMC Kaddem project also rendered it useless at least for the coming ’Vanakalam’ season.

Similarly, water demand also increased exponentially with the groundwater levels hitting new lows in the absence of KLIP. So far 31.22 TMC of water was drawn from SRSP, 6.5 TMC from Mid Manair, and 10.73 TMC from Lower Manair.

Krishna Basin: Levels in Jurala hit rock bottom

As anticipated water levels in projects under the Krishna River basin in Telangana are fast receding. For the first time, the storage levels in the 3.455 TMC Priyadarshini Jurala Project (PJP) hit rock bottom with no inflows from the Narayanpur project in Karnataka, the upper riparian State. As a result, Nettempadu, Koilsagar, and Bheema lifts could not operate affecting the depending ayacut.

Even as the State Government was mulling to urge Karnataka for 5 TMC from Narayanpur, the situation in the 37.64 TMC capacity Narayanpur was also precarious with zero inflows into the reservoir from Almatti. Down the line, Srisailam received only 212 cusecs during the last 24 hours and held water at 885 feet FRL. Nagarjuna Sagar received 1420 cusecs from Srisailam and held an FRL of 590 feet. No water was let out into Pulichintala from Nagarjuna Sagar.

With the demand for irrigation and drinking water increasing in south Telangana, so far 1.85 TMC of water was drawn from PJP in 50 days. With the Karnataka Government slapping a crop holiday under the Narayanpur project, excess drain water also stopped reaching Srisailam.