Water to be drawn from critical threshold level of NSP

The three-member committee of the River Management Board, which met here, discussed the drinking water needs of both states and the utilisation of 80 tmc of water allotted to them in October.

Hyderabad: The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Friday decided to allow water drawls in Nagarjuna Sagar Project up to a depth of 500 ft, 10 ft below the MDDL of 510 feet, making some 14 tmc of water available additionally to meet the drinking water needs of both Telangana and AP States. Telangana State will be entitled for 8.5 tmc of it, as against 5.5 tmc allotted to AP.

The three-member committee of the River Management Board, which met here, discussed the drinking water needs of both states and the utilisation of 80 tmc of water allotted to them in October. Telangana has had already exhausted its allotted share of 35 tmc in the current water year. AP was barely left with any so far as its share of 45 tmc is concerned.

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Both states sought to take drawls from below thresh hold level with immediate effect. Otherwise, they need to wait till the end of July to get fresh inflows into the project once the monsoon sets in. MDDL of 510 feet represents the lowest permissible limit for water drawls in a normal situation. The inflows received in Nagarajuna Sagar project were the lowest ever this year in the absence of adequate rainfall in the catchment.

Telangana State declared a crop holiday for 6.30 lakh acres in the command of the Nagarjuna Sagar project for both Kharif and Rabi under. State required at least 1.7 tmc of water every month to support the drinking water supply in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The water needs of districts such as Nalgonda, Suryapet and Khammam are also to be taken care of for the next three months.

The water level in NSP touched the MDDL on Thursday. AP has staked claim for a major share of the water being taken from below the MDDL on the plea that Telangana had already availed seven tmc of water over and above its allotted share for the current year. Telangana Engineer -in- Chief Sunil Kumar stressed that the drawls made by AP were not fully accounted for. Officials said that emergency pumping systems would be put in place to extract water below the MDDL. These systems operate when the water level falls below the critical threshold.

The state government is exploring options to secure emergency releases if needed from other sources, such as Almatti Dam by approaching the Karnataka government also.