The link-three of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) is getting ready to draw water from the coming water year with the successful trial run of the first pump of the Malkapeta pump house in Konaraopet mandal of Rajanna-Sircilla district on May 23.
Engineers of the project, along with those from the contract agency, operated the first pump of one of the two pump houses in Package-9 as part of link-three to draw water from Mid Manair reservoir to Upper Manair reservoir with Malkapet storage facility located in between.
Also read: Two pumps of Kannepally pumphouse of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project put back into use
According to the project engineers, the first pump house in the link has two pumps with 30 megawatt capacity each to lift water to a height of 130 metres. The pump house draws water from Mid Manair reservoir with an open approach channel running for 2.6 km long and tunnel with 5.8 metres diameter running for another 12.035 km.
The water lifted through the pump house is delivered into a gravity channel running for 18.325 km with another pump house having two pumps of 2.25 MW capacity each lifting the water again for 57 meters height to put it into another gravity channel running for a length of 6.596 km for taking the water to Upper Manair reservoir having a storage capacity of 2.2 tmc ft.
As part of Package-9, it is planned to lift 11.635 tmc ft of Godavari water in 120 days a year. The package has a total new ayacut of 86,000 acres in Sircilla district. The construction of Upper Manair reservoir was completed in 1950 with an objective to provide irrigation facility to 13,086 acres in 15 villages in Gambhirraopet, Yellareddpet and Mustabad Mandals.. However, it has become defunct practically with no water flowing into the reservoir for long and the ayacut getting water only when there were copious rains in a monsoon season.
New ayacut of 60,000 acres is planned in Sircilla, Yellareddypet, Ghambirraopet, Mustabad, Vemulawada and Konaraopet Mandals and another 10,000 acres with two small lifts in Konaraopet and Veernapally Mandal.
To protect the original ayacut and to create irrigation potential for additional area, it was linked to KLIP after the formation of Telangana. The trial run of the first pump in one of the two pump houses of Package-9 is a step closer to the long-awaited dream of the farmers in the area to wet their lands with Godavari water.
