A meeting of the permanent technical committee will be convened soon to chalk out a plan to release Krishna water to Chennai in August. The committee will have representatives from government agencies in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
This was one of the outcomes of the online meeting of Krishna River Management Board held on Wednesday. The meeting was organised to discuss on Krishna water release to augment Chennai’s drinking water needs. Representatives from Water Resources Department and Irrigation Departments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana participated in the meeting.
WRD officials here said that issues related to building up storage at Srisailam reservoir in Andhra Pradesh this season were discussed at the meeting. It is from Srisailam reservoir that Krishna water is released to Somasila and Kandaleru reservoirs in A.P. to supply to Chennai.
The A.P. officials conveyed that storage had to be increased in Srisailam reservoir this season. As there are constraints enroute, it takes nearly a month for Chennai to receive water released from Srisailam.
“We have asked water to be released directly from Kandaleru reservoir that has 20 thousand million cubic feet of water. The AP officials said they will chalk out a plan in consultation with Tamil Nadu officials on Krishna water release to Chennai in August,” said an official.
The next spell for Krishna water discharge to Chennai was due in July. The technical committee with officials from WRD in both the States would discuss the modalities of water discharge besides curbing illegal withdrawal enroute to help Chennai realise maximum quantity of Krishna water, the official added.
