With the downstream Nagarjunasagar having space enough to hold 190 tmcft, irrigation authorities have taken the bold step of generating power at the Srisailam Dam. Both the power houses of the Srisailam reservoir had begun generation from Tuesday.
With steady inflows being registered from upstream projects like Jurala and Tungabhandra, the authorities have decided to release water from Srisailam though nearly 170 tmcft is required to fill it.
Heavy inflows are expected in Krishna and Godavari with a record 410 mm of rainfall being recorded at Mahabaleswar on Tuesday.
As the Almatti reservoir is, 41,600 cusecs are being released to Narayanapur Reservoir downstream. In turn, 49,700 cusecs are being released from Narayanapur which is also full. Jurala recorded an outflow of 35,000 cusecs on Wednesday, but the discharge from the dam is bound to further increase in a day.
Srisailam received only 28,000 cusecs on Wednesday, but going from the discharges of reservoirs upstream they are in all likelihood to increase in leaps and bounds.
Despite the delay in rains, the water position in Srisailam reservoir seems to be better than what it was the corresponding date last year. While there were 46 tmcft on Wednesday, there was only 31 tmcft last year.
Keeping in view the improved water position, the irrigation authorities have started releasing water for power generation.
Power house number 2 drew 11,000 cusecs for generation on July 30, but the amount of water drawn was slashed to 6,000 cusecs the very next day. The releases peaked to 11,700 cusecs on August 2 with both power houses sharing them equally.
Srisailam usually receives the maximum inflows in August.
It received 1,026 tmcft flood water in August 2006 and 977 tmcft in 2005. But the arrivals have been falling ever since. They fell to 109 tmcft in August 2009, according data with the AP Genco.
