The State government will soon put in place a real time water management system, enabling the authorities concerned to monitor the ground and surface water levels in different parts of the State at any given point of time.
The government, at the same time, will take steps to ensure inter-linking of the Krishna with the Penna from the Kandaleru reservoir to avoid scope for any shortage of water in the coming days.
“We have successfully completed diversion of the Godavari water to the Krishna basin through the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme.
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"The focus will now be on interlinking the Penna with the Krishna,” Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said.
Mr. Naidu, who was in New Delhi on Tuesday, held an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the drought situation in the State and the measures taken by the government to tackle it.
“While we cannot control natural calamities like cyclones, which cause immense damage, drought is a manmade disaster that can be tackled,” he said.
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The State government had accordingly put in place several mechanisms like water harvesting structures, rain gauges to ensure that rainwater was harnessed to the maximum extent possible.
“Enhancing the groundwater level by one metre will ensure saving of huge quantity of water, and the government has launched a movement in this direction,” he said.
Micro irrigation
The government was also focussing on promoting the micro irrigation segment by taking steps to enhance the acreage from the present 20 lakh to 50 lakh in the next few years.
An effective system for water budgeting and auditing was being evolved to ensure that the available resources were utilised effectively.