Water shortage in the Godavari river has triggered a clash of interests between the need for drinking water and irrigation under the Eluru main canal in the city.
An angry mob of farmers from Malkapuram, Kovvali and Denduluru staged a protest recently, preventing the authorities of the Eluru Municipal Corporation to draw the canal water to fill a summer storage tank near Malkapuram for catering to the drinking water need of the city.
Tension prevailed at the pump houses of the EMC, leading to deployment of police to disperse the agitators.
West Godavari Collector Bhaskar Katamneni, Municipal Commissioner Saisrikanth and senior officials from the Irrigation Department persuaded the farmers to resume the pumping activity. The EMC began pumping of 30 Million Litres a Day (MLD) of canal water since October to meet the increasing drinking water need of the city during summer.
“We are permitted to draw 40 MLD of water. But, drop in the water levels in the canal is not allowing even one of the two motors to run continuously” says Allu Satyanarayana, Divisional Engineer, water supply division of the EMC.
The corporation is in for the daunting task of ensuring 135 LPCD (litres per capita per day) to 2.5 lakh people during summer for which not less than 32 MLD of water is needed. However, the EMC is forced to depend on Godavari river solely for drinking water during summer as it has stopped receiving water from the Krishna river through the K-E canal since the last 20 days. “Unless we continue to draw Godavari canal water to fill the storage tank, it is not possible to bail out the city from summer water woes,” Mr. Satyanarayana added.
Motaparthi Sivakesava Rao, former president of the Water Users Association from Denduluru, said that the canal water could not be diverted for drinking purpose at the expense of paddy fields as standing crops in more than 1,000 acres were facing withering threat .
According to Tirupati Rao, Devisional Engineer, Head works of the Dhavaleswaram Barrage, the river received 7850 cusecs of water, including the 4,300 cusecs from Sileru on Tuesday.
