Telangana: Water levels in dams maintained in stable manner as inflows dip

The Telangana Irrigation department is maintaining water levels in a stable manner since inflows into major projects from upstream and catchment areas in Krishna and Godavari basins dropped significantly

Hyderabad: The Telangana Irrigation department is maintaining water levels in a stable manner by reducing outflows drastically since inflows into major projects from upstream and catchment areas in Krishna and Godavari basins dropped significantly for the last few days.

The inflows hovered between one lakh to more than three lakh cusecs of water in Priyadharshini Jurala Project (PJP), Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) in Krishna basin and Kaddam, Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) and Sripada Yellampally in Godavari basin till August second week.

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As there was no rainfall in upstream and catchment areas of these water bodies in two basins in the last few days, the officials reduced outflows to a large extent and are maintaining water levels in a stable manner. The Kaddam project in erstwhile Adilabad district got record inflows of over five lakh cusecs of water from upstream areas in Maharashtra in July and posed danger to the dam structure as water overflowed from the crest gates.

But the situation is now completely different with officials releasing only 822 cusecs of water while the inflows were only 1,257 cusecs. Officials said the chances of water bodies getting huge inflows were more in the next few days in case heavy rains lash the State.

However at PJP, officials are still continuing to release 1.33 lakh cusecs of water through 22 gates since it is getting 90,000 cusecs of inflows. “Since torrential rains in July gave us more experience of dealing with inflows, we are now prepared to tackle any situation,” a senior irrigation department official said.

At Lakshmi barrage in Medigadda, officials are discharging 1.28 lakh cusecs of water from 70 gates. The barrage is getting 1.28 lakh cusecs of inflows.

At most projects, the engineers are releasing water only to generate hydel power and meet the power supply requirements in the State. Officials said the power at Srisailam, NSP and other projects were being generated to full capacity since the water bodies were filled to the brim due to incessant rains in July.

It was the same hydel power that came to the rescue of the TSTransco when the Ministry of Power barred Telangana from carrying out buying and selling power for failing to clear the dues. The Centre later lifted the restrictions after the dues were cleared.