Dry monsoon pushes Telangana towards water crisis as reservoirs shrink
A weak Southwest Monsoon has sharply depleted Telangana's reservoir storage, with poor inflows into the Krishna and Godavari rivers raising fears of a drinking water crisis. Officials warn that without widespread rainfall by July-end, water supply and agriculture could face severe stress
Hyderabad: A weak Southwest Monsoon has pushed Telangana to the brink of a potential drinking water crisis, with storage levels in major reservoirs depleting sharply and inflows into the Krishna and Godavari rivers remaining negligible. As anxiety grows over dwindling water reserves, the State government is yet to unveil a comprehensive contingency plan, despite officials warning of a worsening situation if rains fail to revive by the end of July.
As on Wednesday evening, all the major reservoirs were holding 337.46 TMCft against total capacity of 1,059 TMCft. During the corresponding period last year, water levels in major reservoirs stood at 522.31 TMCft.
More than a month into the monsoon season, rainfall has remained far below expectations across Telangana and its upstream catchments. Telangana recorded a 13 per cent rainfall deficiency during the season, with rainfall remaining largely scattered and erratic. The absence of significant rainfall has virtually halted flood inflows into reservoirs, forcing authorities to rely almost entirely on carryover storage from the previous water year.
The situation is particularly alarming in the Krishna basin. The Srisailam reservoir, with a full capacity of 215 TMCft, currently holds just 42 TMCft, compared to 199 TMCft during the corresponding period last year. Nagarjuna Sagar contains only 138 TMCft against its full capacity of 312 TMCft, while upstream reservoirs in Karnataka are yet to accumulate enough water to permit downstream releases.
Although Almatti is receiving over 1.26 lakh cusecs of inflows, releases are unlikely until its storage reaches at least 100 TMCft.
The Godavari basin presents a similar picture. Sriramsagar, Yellampalli, Singur and Nizamsagar are all recording low storage levels, while Maharashtra’s Jaikwadi reservoir has also received poor inflows, limiting downstream flows into Telangana. Lone exception is the Pranahita river, where healthy inflows have pushed discharge at Medigadda above 82,000 cusecs. However, with the barrage gates fully open, the water is flowing downstream without being retained.
Due to poor water availability, farming has become uncertain with total sown area reaching just 55.31 lakh acres which is around 42 per cent of the normal area of 1.32 crore acres.
While farmers are already struggling with uncertainty, the shrinking reserves have raised concerns over the sustainability of Mission Bhagiratha, which depends on 29 major reservoirs to supply drinking water across rural and urban Telangana. Senior officials reportedly cautioned the government that prolonged dry conditions could trigger severe drinking water shortages if fresh inflows do not materialise before the end of this month.
Officials have attributed the deficient rainfall to low-pressure systems drifting away from Telangana towards neighbouring States, leaving the region with cloudy skies but little precipitation.
While the authorities have reportedly directed the Municipal Administration, Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply departments to prepare contingency measures such as identifying private borewells, connecting them to local water sources and supplying tanker water to vulnerable villages, the absence of a clearly articulated emergency strategy has added to concerns.
With farmers already unable to begin cultivation and reservoir levels continuing to decline, Telangana now faces the twin challenge of safeguarding drinking water supplies while coping with an increasingly uncertain monsoon. Unless widespread rainfall revives river flows in the coming weeks, the State could be heading towards one of its most difficult water management tests in recent years.
