HYDERABAD: In what may augur well for both Telugu-speaking states, Srisailam dam has been receiving copious inflows again with heavy rains in upper riparian states. The inflows into Srisailam increased and as per the latest forecast, it will receive 4 tmc water in a couple of days. If the same trend continues for some more days, Srisailam dam would be filled to its brim.
As on Wednesday, Srisailam was filled up to 71 per cent of its storage capacity. As against the full storage capacity of 21.5.81 tmc, the Srisailam’s current storage at 6 pm on Wednesday was 153.17 tmc.
With heavy rains in upper states, Tungabhadra and Jurala have been receiving good inflows. Besides, outflows from Almatti dam also have increased to one lakh cusecs again due to rains in Karnataka. If the same trend continues for the next few days, Srisailam reservoir would overflow by the end of this month and water is likely to be released to Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP). As on Wednesday, Srisailam received 81,500 cusecs. The inflows into NSP are also increasing through power houses and water is being released into canals to some extent.
“If rains continue like this, we expect that by September, Srisailam reservoir will be overflowing. We are already releasing some water from Srisailam to NSP,” Srisailam chief engineer B Narayana Reddy told Express.
Nagarjuna Sagar project chief engineer S Sunil said they are expecting 3 lakh cusecs into Srisailam and if the same trend continues for the next one week, the deficit of 156 tmc in NSP and 60 tmc deficit in Srisailam would be covered. According to Central Water Commission (CWC) report, the forecast for Srisailam dam is that it will receive 4.2 tmc in the next two days.
Govt hopes to release water from NSP for late Kharif crop
The CWC report stated that the water levels at Jurala, Tungabhadra, Sunkesula and Srisailam dams are rising continuously. The highest among them is Tungabhadra dam which is expected to receive 8.39 tmc by Thursday. The forecast for the next two days is that the Narayanpur and Jurala will receive 4.58 tmc each. From Srisailam, the officials released 1,600 cusecs to Kalwakurthy, 2,025 cusecs to Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi and 4,000 cusecs to Pothireddypadu. Irrigation minister T Harish Rao had announced that if Srisailam is filled by September, the government would release water from NSP either for late Kharif or early Rabi.
Srisailam inflows
Sunkesula barrage will receive 3.05 tmc. The water released from Tungabhadra, Jurala and Almatti will be received by Srisailam.
