Even as inflows into the Srisailam project are decreasing every hour, the officials are in a dilemma over releasing water further downstream as they fear that it might trigger a war for water between farmers of the Rayalaseema region and the Krishna basin.
According to the officials, the inflows into the Srisailam reservoir are slowly declining every hour. The inflow recorded at 6 pm on Wednesday was 40,000 cusecs. As against the Full Reservoir level (FRL) level of 885 feet, the water level in the project is just at 820.6 feet. The officials said that unless water level reaches 834 feet, they would not be in a position to release water to the Nagarjuna Sagar dam, as per the High Court orders.
“At the current level of inflows, it would take at least a week for the water level to reach 834 feet,” said a senior official of the Srisailam project.
“If farmers of the Rayalaseema region object to the release of water to Nagarjuna Sagar, it might trigger a war for water between them and their counterparts from the Krishna basin,” feared another official. To add to the woes, decreasing water level in the Tungabhadra river might affect the inflow into the Srisailam project.
The officials have also stated that they will not be able to release water to Pothireddypadu project unless water levels reach at least 854 feet.
Meanwhile, steady inflows into the Indira Priyadarshini Jurala project continued on Wednesday. At 6 pm, the inflow and outflow were recorded as 52,980 cusecs and 41,560 cusecs respectively at Jurala project. Three crest gates were lifted up to one metre to generate power through the 196 MW hydel power plant.
Though the officials were scheduled to announce the contingency crop plan on Wednesday, they have decided to wait for one more week to check if inflows into the Srisailam and the Nagarjuna Sagar projects increase or not. However, they have indicated that the regular crop plan will be discontinued if the inflow levels follow the current pattern.