Upper Krishna floods revive hopes for Telangana

Heavy rainfall in Maharashtra and Karnataka has increased inflows into the Priyadarshini Jurala Project, easing Telangana's drinking water concerns. The rising flows have boosted irrigation, revived hydropower generation and are expected to improve water availability at the Srisailam reservoir during Kharif.

Hyderabad: Heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of the Krishna basin across Maharashtra and Karnataka has revived hopes in Telangana. After weeks of concern over the impact of El Nino, the steadily rising inflows into the Priyadarshini Jurala Project have now ensured there is no immediate drinking water crisis in major parts of the State.

As on Tuesday, all the major reservoirs were holding 336.47 TMCft against a total storage capacity of 1,059 TMCft.

---

As floodwaters from the Almatti and Narayanpur reservoirs continued to flow downstream, the Jurala reservoir, with a gross storage capacity of 9.66 TMCft, has been receiving steadily rising inflows. Official figures showed inflows touching around 27,000-32,000 cusecs, prompting authorities to lift the project gates and release over 30,000 cusecs downstream towards the Srisailam reservoir. Officials expect inflows to increase further if heavy rainfall persists in the upper catchment.

The increased flows have enabled the government to operationalise lift irrigation schemes dependent on Jurala backwaters, including the Jawahar Nettempadu, Rajiv Bhima and Koilsagar projects, providing much-needed irrigation support to the erstwhile Mahabubnagar region, though partially. The Irrigation Department initiated pumping to the Koilsagar reservoir through the Undyala Pump House Stage-I, lifting about 315 cusecs of water. Simultaneously, the Mahatma Gandhi Lift Irrigation Scheme has begun releasing water into the Singotam, Jonnagaboguda and Gudipalli reservoirs, further strengthening irrigation support in the region.

The flood flows have also marked the beginning of hydropower generation in Telangana for the current monsoon. Telangana Genco commenced electricity generation at the Upper and Lower Jurala hydel stations, initially operating one unit each before receiving permission to expand generation to three units at both power houses as inflows improve.

The developments come even as Telangana continues to face a rainfall deficit of 33 per cent under the influence of El Nino. While rainfall within the State has remained inadequate to significantly improve reservoir levels, heavy precipitation in Karnataka and Maharashtra has provided a critical lifeline by replenishing upstream reservoirs.

The inflows are also expected to gradually improve water availability at the Srisailam reservoir, offering relief for irrigation and drinking water needs in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh during the ongoing Kharif season.

Despite the Congress government’s refusal to operate the Kannepalli pumps on the Godavari River, officials said inflows into the Sriram Sagar, Singur and Mid Manair reservoirs, among other projects, continued to remain steady. The average inflows into Sriram Sagar stood at 2,300 cusecs, Nizam Sagar at 1,200 cusecs, Sripada Yellampalli at 1,300 cusecs and the Mid Manair project at 150 cusecs.