To mitigate the drinking water crisis, the Public Works Department officials started releasing water from Amaravathi Dam on Friday.
The PWD (Water Resources Organisation) officials told The Hindu that 393 million cubic feet of water would be discharged through River Amaravathi and Amaravathi Main Canal before Thursday evening next week for various drinking water schemes in the district.
The officials said that the release of water was needed due to prevailing dry climatic conditions even though the water level in the reservoir was not encouraging.
The water level was only 36 ft on Friday against the maxim level of 90 feet.
The release of water will help implement various water schemes of civic bodies in the command area of the dam, said officials.
