Telangana’s desiltation drive to begin with 60-year-old Kaddam project

The desiltation of Kaddam Project, one of the State's key irrigation infrastructures, that has been particularly affected, will be taken up as the pilot project.

Hyderabad: The State government is initiating moves to desilt all major irrigation projects across the State in response to significant silt accumulation that has drastically cut down their storage capacities. The desiltation of Kaddam Project, one of the State’s key irrigation infrastructures, that has been particularly affected, will be taken up as the pilot project.

Since its construction in 1949, the Kaddam Project has not undergone any desilting exercise, leading to a reduction in its gross storage capacity from 7.603 Thousand Million Cubic feet (TMC) to about 4.82 TMC, approximately 40 percent of its original capacity. This reduction has impaired its ability to provide irrigation water to 68,150 acres of agricultural land.

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Officials have estimated that approximately 135.92 million tons of silt has accumulated in the Kaddam Project. Nearly 40 percent of this silt consists of fine sand, which can be repurposed for construction and other uses, while the remaining 60 percent is clay, which is useful for application to soils in agricultural land to add up to their fertility.

The problem of siltation is not unique to the Kaddam Project. All major irrigation projects in Telangana have experienced a loss of 25 percent to 30 percent of their gross water storage capacity due to increasing silt accumulation. The State government, currently without a specific policy addressing siltation issues, is planning to follow guidelines from the Ministry of Jal Shakti to tackle the problem.

Significant sand deposits have been identified in various projects. For instance, the Medigadda Barrage on the Godavari River was found to have over Rs 800 crore worth of sand deposits when the barrage was emptied for structural inspection earlier this year. Part of this sand has already been extracted.

The government plans to take up dredging of sand in the Kaddam Project as a pilot initiative. The insights gained from this project will help formulate a comprehensive policy for the desiltation of other projects. Tenders for the desiltation of the Kaddam Project are expected to be called soon.

The desilting of these projects is critical to restoring their storage capacities and enhancing their irrigation potential. As the state moves forward with these efforts, the focus will be on ensuring systematic, transparent, and performance-based allocation of resources.

• Originally Kaddam had a gross storage capacity of 7.6 TMC.
• Current storage capacity is reduced to about 40 % .
• An estimated 135.92.57 million tons of silt accumulated
• About 40% of silt is fine sand while 60 per cent is clay
• All projects lost 25% to 30% of storage capacity due to siltation.