Telangana to approach Maharashtra seeking water from Koyna dam

The State is likely to request the Maharashtra government at least eight TMC of water immediately. 

Hyderabad: As part of its initiative to outwit the challenges associated with a rainfall deficit year, the State government is planning to approach the Government of Maharashtra requesting for release of water from the Koyna dam to meet its drinking water needs in the Krishna basin.

Moves are afoot to ensure the reach of water from Koyna dam in western Maharashtra to the Krishna basin projects – Jurala, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar – where the water levels are fast dipping. The State is likely to request the Maharashtra government at least eight TMC of water immediately.

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In case of receiving a positive response from Maharashtra, the water released from Koyna has to be channelled through projects in Karnataka such as Almatti and Narayanpur. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy will be meeting the Karnataka Chief Minister on this special mission very soon, according to official sources.

Koyna dam, with a gross storage capacity of 105 TMC utilises its inflows mainly for hydro-electric power generation. The Maharashtra government was generating power using Koyna river water and releasing the same into the Arabian Sea. Officials said the project had scope to spare up to 30 TMC of water as per the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal Award.

Telangana is expected to write to the Maharashtra government requesting for release of water from Koyna as it is the only option to quench the thirst of the people here. Telangana has already declared a crop holiday in the command area of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project, which received inflows of less than 40 TMC so far in the current water year.

The project is left with only 20 TMC of water above the minimum draw down level. Considering its fresh water indent, Andhra Pradesh was accorded a release of five TMC of water by the KRMB and it had commenced drawl of water from the NSP right main canal two days ago. The drinking water needs of Hyderabad City and five other towns in Telangana are to be met from the Nagarjuna Sagar dam.

The Srisailam dam meanwhile, was left with about 17 TMC of water above the MDDL to meet the drinking water needs of both the Telugu States. In 2019, Telangana had approached Karnataka requesting release of 2.5 water to meet its drinking water needs. But Karnataka was not left with any adequate storage in Almatti this year to concede to the requests of Telangana.