The three-member committee meeting of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), which met here on Thursday allocated 29 tmc ft of water to Telangana and 17.5 tmcft for Andhra Pradesh to meet their immediate irrigation and drinking water needs till August. This allocation of 46.5 tmc ft water to the two States is from the storage in Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs
The meeting chaired by R.K. Jain, the in-charge Chairman of KRMB, was attended by Member-Secretary Harikesh Meena, Engineers-in-Chief of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh C. Muralidhar and M. Venkateswara Rao, respectively, and other senior engineers from the two States. The board has assessed the availability of water as on March 11 at 18 tmc ft in Srisailam and 33.713 tmc ft in Nagarjunasagar.
Judicious use
According to the officials, apart from discussing the water indents submitted by the two States, the meeting also discussed the complaints of the two States against each other on use of water in excess of allocation made by the board. When asked after the meeting, Mr. Jain said excess use of water, if any, by the two States would be adjusted against their future allocations.
The board suggested the two States to utilise water judiciously and to avail water from Nagarjunasagar preferably with power generation. The evaporation losses and transmission losses between Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar would be deducted from the water storage in the two reservoirs.
As per the water release order issued by the board, Telangana would get 3.5 tmc ft water for Mission Bhagiratha from Kalwakurthy lift irrigation scheme based on Srisailam till August-end, 5 tmc for Mission Bhagiratha from Nagarjunasagar also till August-end, 8.5 tmc ft for drinking water needs of Hyderabad (HMWSSB) till August-end, 3 tmc ft for feeding tanks under Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project and 9 tmc ft for saving Rabi crop under Nagarjunasagar left canal.
Similarly, AP would get 3 tmc ft for Handri-Neeva and Muchumarri lifts from Srisailam and 8 tmc ft for Nagarjunasagar right canal, 3 tmc ft for Nagarjunasagar left canal and 3.5 tmc ft for Krishna Delta System (KDS) from Nagarjunasagar reservoir. The board has also asked the two States to maintain 510 ft level for maximum period possible.
The release of water to Andhra Pradesh under Nagarjunasagar left canal should be made simultaneously with release of water to Telangana for needs beyond Palair reservoir. Release of water to KDS should commence from March 15 at the rate of 10,000 cusecs and the release to AP from Nagarjunasagar right canal as and when requested. The Member-Secretary stated that utilisations made so far including discrepancies in Nagarjunasagar left canal up to March 11 was agreed upon by the two States.
