Authorities did not open the crest gates of the Srisailam Reservoir on Wednesday though the level of water reached dangerously close to the brim.
The reservoir received an average inflow of 1,24,600 cusecs the whole of Tuesday and an inflow of 1.05 lakh cusecs was recorded on Wednesday.
The outflow from the reservoir for generation and power and the irrigation schemes was pushed to the maximum of 79,103 cusecs.
With a flood cushion of just 6.22 tmcft on Wednesday morning, the authorities took a risk by not raising the crest gates.
But for the outflow of nearly 80,000 cusecs, the reservoir would have been overflowing by Wednesday evening, irrigation experts said.
2009 incident
They recalled how things went haywire when a retaining wall of the same reservoir gave way in October 2009 and all water had to be released in a hurry resulting in a flood of over 10 lakh cusecs at the Prakasam barrage that led to inundation of several low-lying areas and habitats upstream and downstream the barrage.
The word around here is that the authorities have been asked to keep the gates closed for a Minister to reach the dam site and be there for releasing water.
The dam authorities released 71,174 cusecs to the two power houses for generation purpose, 6,000 cuses to the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, 332 cusecs to Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi Left Irrigation Scheme and 1,597 cusecs for the Mahatma Gandhi (Kalavakurthy) Lift Irrigation Scheme.
Water dispute
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been at loggerheads with each other about release of water from the reservoir to irrigation schemes.
The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) is an autonomous board constituted to regulate the drawing of water from common irrigation projects — Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar. It recently wrote a letter to the Centre saying neither State wase heeding to its orders.
