Telangana Govt to impound 25 TMCft water in Mallanna Sagar

The augmentation of storage levels is being done for the first time since its construction was completed in 2022

Siddipet: The State government is planning to increase the storage in the Mallanna Sagar up to 25 TMCft this year. The augmentation of storage levels is being done for the first time since its construction was completed in 2022.

The full storage capacity of the project, the biggest under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, is 50 TMCft. The project had 10 TMCft of water when officials started pumping in water last week. Irrigation officials said they were pumping in 3,600 cusecs of water during the day by operating three pumps. The department was pumping in 1,200 cusecs during the night, when there would be more power consumption in the State, by running just one pump.

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Since Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had inaugurated the project in February 2022, the irrigation department has impounded the project to a maximum of 15TMCft. However, officials were preparing to increase the storage to 25 TMCft this year following the directions of the State government. They will be closely monitoring it while pumping in water since it is a new project, officials said.

DEE of Mallanna Sagar Srinivas Chennu said they would initially pump water in for 10 consecutive days while monitoring the project closely. The process would continue after a short break, he said, adding that whenever there was no inflow from the Godavari at the Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP), they were forced to lift the water from the Medigadda barrage. This meant water being lifted at eight spots.

As of now, they were getting water from the SRSP to Mid-Manair, from where they were lifting the water to the Anantha Sagar reservoir and then to Ranganayaka Sagar, and from there to Mallanna Sagar, by using just three lifts. The official said this would save a lot of power.

Officials are also planning to impound water in 91 tanks located along the Mallanna Sagar canals in Siddipet and Sircilla districts to meet the irrigation needs of Yasangi. Once the total canal network under Mallanna Sagar is completed, more than 300 tanks would be filled with Godavari water. Since the government had started impounding Mallanna Sagar, the groundwater table in the area had improved from 76 feet to 36 feet.

The water will be released into streams and canals during the Yasangi season to meet the needs of farmers in the erstwhile Medak district and Sircilla.