All the 11 major and medium irrigation projects in the district present a pathetic picture what with the water level in the reservoirs plunging below the dead storage mark. The picture may get gloomier if the situation is looked at against a forecast of a failing monsoon ahead.
The bed of all but the Kumram Bheem and Vattivagu medium irrigation projects in Asifabad mandal are visible due to water drying up owing to errant monsoon for years, especially the last one. These projects under the Bellampalli Irrigation Division still have some water as it has not been used to irrigate crops or released into the streams in the previous seasons.
“For the projects to receive inflows, we have to wait until the first or second week of July, that too if the rainfall is normal. Good rainfall will mean projects will overflow in August,” says Irrigation Engineer C. Madhusudan Reddy.
The Kadem project has a full reservoir level of 700 ft with a top capacity of storing 7.60 tmc ft of water with dead storage level being 675 ft with a capacity of 2.78 tmc ft. The present level of water in the reservoir is 671.8 tmc ft and water capacity has correspondingly plummeted to 2.4 tmc ft.
Water level in the medium irrigation projects Satnala and Mattadivagu in Jainad and Tamsi mandals has also fallen beyond the dead storage level. At the former, the water level has gone down below 279 mtr against the FRL of 286.5 mtr.
In the eastern side of the district, the Gollavagu and Rallivagu projects are also showing water below the dead storage level. Water in the remaining two projects in the west side of the district – Swarna and Suddavagu Gaddenna projects – has also plunged greatly.
If monsoon fails, nearly 1 lakh hectares of crop, which is grown under irrigated conditions, will be at risk. The area under irrigation in the district should have been more, but the full potential of the projects has not been realised.
For example, the contemplated ayacut for Kumram Bheem project is 45,500 acres, but it irrigates only 8,500 acres. Similarly, Vattivagu project has been designed with a potential to irrigate 24,500 acres, but it wets only 16,000 acres.
