Somasila getting good inflows

Chennai can expect release of Krishna water early this year

Rising water levels in the Somasila reservoir.

The metropolis of Chennai, which is entitled to 12,000 mcft of Krishna water under the Telugu Ganga project after accounting for seepage and evaporation losses, can expect to augment its drinking water sources early this year as the Somasila reservoir in SRSP Nellore district, one of the main check points en route, getting significant inflows in August.

The level in the Somasila reservoir went up to 11.75 tmcft on Thursday thanks to an inflow of 7,825 cusecs from its catchment areas, said Somasila project superintending engineer P.Nagul Meera. “The inflows are expected to go up to 22,000 cusecs next week thanks to sustained discharge from the Pothireddypadu to the Velugodu balancing reservoir,” he told The Hindu .

Discharge from Srisailam

With the Srisailam reservoir surplussing and getting a huge inflow of 3.20 lakh cusecs of Krishna water from the upper riparian State of Karnataka on Thursday evening, the Velugodu balancing reservoir of the Galeru river Kundu tributary of Penna river at Velugodu in Kurnool district continued to get good inflows.

The balancing reservoir, a part of the Telugu Ganga project, is expected to surplus in a week or so resulting in realisation of about 1.5 tmcft of water at the Somasila reservoir thereafter,” the SE explained.

Going by the present discharge from Srisailam, the Somasila reservoir may touch the full reservoir level of 95 tmcft well before the northeast monsoon sets in.

With a steady discharge of over 1.63 lakh cusecs each from Almatti, Narayanpur and Jurala, the present tempo of water release from Pothireddipadu head regulator could be maintained at the present levels and even stepped up as the catchment areas in the upper riparian States of Karnataka and Maharashtra received good rains, official sources said.

Ever since the height of the Almatti dam had been increased by the upper riparian State of Karnakata, reservoirs across the river Krishna in Andhra Pradesh had been receiving dwindling inflows year after year, forcing the lower riparian State to go for water transfer from the surplus Godavari basin to Krishna basin.

The State government has also chalked out plans for linking of five rivers – Vamsadhara, Nagavali, Godavari, Krishna and Penna – to augment water supply to the drinking and irrigation projects in the State.