The Krishna River Management Board's directive to release 10 tmcft of water from the Srisailam reservoir to meet the drinking water needs of the riparian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has come as a big relief for the Ongole Municipal Corporation which is mainly dependent upon the Krishna for replenishment.
The civic body has been providing water once in four days as the city has been gripped by the worst-ever drinking water crisis this year in view of poor storage in the reservoirs of the Krishna across the state.
Low storage
The present storage in the two summer storage tanks in the city is sufficient only for eight days, says Municipal Engineer D. Srinivasa Rao. From Monday, the water supply will be once in five days to pull on till the water released from Srisailam reaches the two summer storage tanks in the city.
The district administration has sought release of 4 tmcft of water to meet the needs of the people in the district headquarters and also fill notified and non-notified storage tanks across the drought-prone district.
As on Thursday, the availability of water in summer storage tank-I is 568.84 million litres as against its full capacity of 1,950 million litres and in the storage tank-II the availability is 255.38 million litres against its full capacity of 3,850 million.
The Board has directed release of seven tmc ft to meet the drinking water needs of Andhra Pradesh and three tmc ft for Hyderabad.
The water released from Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar is expected to reach Ongole in about 15 days.
Bigger pipeline
In an effort to find a permanent solution to the drinking water problem, tenders had been floated for a Rs. 40 crore project to lay a bigger pipeline from Yedugundlapadu to the city to draw water from the Gundalakamma reservoir.
Work on the project would be started shortly and completed in about three months, says Ongole MLA D.Janardhana Rao. “I have impressed upon Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu to sanction another Rs. 61 crore for laying a bigger capacity pipeline between Yedugondlapadu and Mallavaram to draw 0.882 tmc of water the OMC is entitled to from Gundalakamma reservoir to reduce the dependence on the river Krishna,” he adds
