With inflows into the Almatti reservoir in Karnataka dwindling in the last few days, Andhra Pradesh does not expect a good discharge from the Narayanapur project and therefore no inflows downstream into the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects.
The water previously discharged from Narayanpur is now reaching the Jurala project in Mahabubnagar district, reviving the hope of farmers in the drought-affected district.
The discharge from Narayanpur project in Karnataka was 30,000 cusecs on Thursday morning after water level in the dam rose to 1613.58 ft against the full reservoir level (FLR) of 1615 ft.
Speaking to Express, Jurala project superintending engineer T Khagendra said the inflows have reached the Jurala project. The current water level in the project is 316.3 m against the FRL of 318.5 m.
''Once the water level reaches 318 m, we will release water initially through pump-houses and later through the slipway of the dam if the inflows continue to be good," Khagendra said.
As of Saturday afternoon, the inflows into Jurala Project were 70,000 cusecs while the outflows from Narayanapur Dam were 63,000 cusecs.
The water for power generation at the Jurala hydro-electric project was released on Saturday evening.
The Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) meeting held in Mahabubnagar on Thursday decided that water will be released from Jurala Project for Kharif crop from August 12 to 15, to irrigate 1,04,741 acres. For the ayacut under Rajoli Banda Diversion Scheme, the water will be released from August 20.
The inflows into Srisailam project project will start only after the water from the Jurala is released. The current water level at Srisailam is 798.1 ft against the FRL of 885 ft. Previous year on the same day, the water level was 872.8.
According to officials, if the conditions are favourable and there are steady inflows into the Jurala Project, the water will be released downstream, most probably by Sunday evening or Monday morning.
Only when there is enough water in Srisailam project, can one expect good inflows to Nagarjuna Sagar whose water level stands at 510.8 ft as against FRL of 590 ft. On the same day last year, the water level was 551.3 ft.