The inflows into the Srisailam reservoir have crossed the 1.5 lakh cusecs mark for the first time this season.
The water level in the reservoir, which fell to the rock bottom level of 782.3 ft, steadily increased to 864.8 ft with an inflow of 1,40,887 cusecs recorded on Saturday. The inflows peaked to 1,78,769 cusecs on Tuesday.
Water Resources Department engineers say that the reservoir will be filled to the brim (crest level) if the inflows continue at the same rate for another 10 days.
According to the formula, an inflow of 1,15,740 tmcft for 24 hours would add 10 tmcft of water to the reservoir. It would take 94 tmcft to fill the reservoir from the current level of 865 ft to the Full Reservoir level (FRL) of 885 ft. However, the water available is being used up.
Nearly 45,855 cusecs is being used for power generation. Another 13,000 cusecs is released into the Pothireddipadu head regulator (8,975 cusecs) and pumped up by the Handri-Neeva (2,025 cusecs) and Mahatma Gandhi (Kalavarkurthy) Lift Irrigation Schemes (1,900 cusecs ) every day. While a little over 10 tmcft is being received each day, about five tmcft is being removed from the reservoir. The water used for power generation will flow into the Nagarjuna Sagar Reservoir, which is downstream.
In what seems to be the worst scenario in the recent times, Srisailam is only receiving about 5,000 cusecs from Tungabhadra, the major tributary of the Krishna.
A.P. Irrigation officials are hoping that the inflows to the Srisailam reservoir would continue for a few days more. An average inflow of 1.21 lakh cusecs and an outflow of 1.33 lakh cusecs were recorded at the Almatti dam, which had a flood cushion of only 3.16 tmcft on Saturday.
The relatively smaller Narayanapur reservoir, which had a flood cushion of 2.66 tmcft, received inflows of 1.32 lakh cusecs and outflow of 1.24 lakh cusecs.
The Jurala project, which is full right to the brim, is receiving 1.41 lakh cusecs. A quantum of 1.42 lakh cusecs was released from it on Saturday.
