The Krishna River Water Management Board has ordered release of 6,000 cusecs of water daily to Krishna delta from Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) for one more week,
The order issued by board member secretary R.K. Gupta comes in the light of the Telangana irrigation department officials’ decision to close the NSP gates from Tuesday midnight. The extension of time for release of water follows a letter addressed by the Andhra Pradesh government to the water board seeking additional release of water to meet the drinking water needs of Krishna, Guntur, West Godavari and Prakasam districts.
The AP government, in its letter, contended that though water release commenced from the project a week ago, the staggered releases could not meet the requirement of the delta as the quantum that reached the Prakasam barrage was “very minimal’’. Irrigation officials maintained that against the 3.6 tmcft of water released, the Prakasam barrage received 1.47 tmcft of water while the crest level at the barrage was currently at little over 10 ft as against 12 ft full level.
The Irrigation department officials complained that the dry bed, losses due to evaporation and other factors had resulted in a steep drop in the amount of water that actually reached the barrage. Senior officials, in their reports sent to the government, informed that more than 500 tanks downstream were yet to receive water a week after it was released from NSP.
Following the complaint, a team of Central Water Commission officials led by Deputy Executive Engineer G. Satyanarayana visited parts of the Krishna delta on Tuesday. Accompanied by a team from the irrigation department, the CWC officials visited Prakasam barrage and Ryves and Eluru canals besides inspecting several tanks catering to drinking water needs downstream.
“Following water release from NSP, canals could reach less than 60 per cent of their flow levels. We are pushing hard to get more water for drinking water needs,” a senior official who accompanied the CWC team told The Hindu . According to sources, the CWC officials who obtained first hand information briefed the water management board about the ground situation over telephone following which the orders for continuing release of water for one more week had been issued.
