Water level in Prakasam Barrage head pond dips to half

Release of 200 cusecs of water to the Krishna Western Delta leads to further drop.

A sand bar is seen extending towards Prakasam Barrage from an island following drop in water level in the Krishna in Vijayawada.—PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

The release of 200 cusecs of water to the Krishna Western Delta to fill drinking water tanks has further depleted the quantity of water in the reservoir upstream Prakasam Barrage.

Though the Irrigation Department logs say only what was being received is being released into the Krishna Western Main Canal the amount of water in the reservoir is gradually getting depleted.

The quantity of water upstream the barrage fell from 1.67 tmcft to 1.53 tmcft in a week.

The water level in the reservoir also fell from 51.05 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL) to 50.35 ft. The water level of 50.35 ft is a record low and the 1.53 tmcft is also the least recorded in recent time.

The water level and quantity on the corresponding date the previous year (2015) was 55.95 ft and 2.81 tmcft respectively. Similarly the level and quantity on the corresponding day in the year before that (2014) was 56.75 ft and 3 tmcft.

Prakasam Barrage can hold 3.071 tmcft at the full reservoir level (FRL) of 57.05 ft and water level was maintained at the FRL of 57 ft for several decades to enable water to flow by gravity to the Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (earlier called the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station). Water was stored at the barrage round the year much to the chagrin of the Irrigation Department. Experts of the Irrigation Department made it evident that impounding water throughout the year was a danger to the Prakasam barrage which provided water to 13.5 lakh acres spread over four districts – West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam. The Thermal Power Station was forced to make alternate arrangements to draw water from the river. Nevertheless the Irrigation Department in consultation with the Central Water Commission (CWC) took several steps to strengthen the barrage foundation which ensured that the more than 50 year structure was not washed away in a flood that touched the 11 lakh cusecs mark in 2009.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has asked the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to release water for the filling of drinking tanks in the delta districts, but there seems to be no response from it till now. People coming to Vijayawada, the primary centre on Krishna River to take a holy dip during pushkarams may have to take a dip in Godavari Water pumped to the barrage from Pattiseema.