VIJAYAWADA: As part of the annual summer preparedness, authorities have begun releasing water from the Prakasam Barrage to meet the rising drinking water demand across multiple districts, ensuring an uninterrupted supply to thousands of rural habitations dependent on canal-fed storage systems during the peak season.
The water release is catering to the needs of Krishna, NTR, Eluru, Guntur and Bapatla districts, where a large number of villages rely heavily on canal-fed summer storage tanks for their daily drinking water requirements.
With groundwater levels steadily declining during summer, these surface water sources become vital for sustaining rural populations and preventing acute shortages.
According to officials of the Rural Water Supply department, as many as 2,486 habitations in the combined Krishna region depend on this supply mechanism.
To serve these areas, authorities have identified 389 summer storage tanks, of which a significant 265 tanks are located in Krishna district alone, highlighting the region’s dependence on canal-based water distribution.
These storage tanks are supplied through an extensive canal network originating from the barrage.
Among them, the Ryves Canal feeds the highest number of tanks at 271, followed by the KEB Canal with 61 tanks, the Eluru Canal with 30 tanks, the Bandar Canal with 22 tanks and the NSP Canal with 3 tanks.
This structured distribution ensures that water reaches even remote habitations in a systematic and phased manner.
At present, authorities are releasing around 3,627 cusecs of water to meet the increasing demand. Of this, 2,511 cusecs are being discharged through the Ryves Canal, which caters to a majority of the tanks.
The Krishna Western (KW) canal is receiving 816 cusecs, while 200 cusecs is being released into the KEB Canal and 100 cusecs into the Bandar Canal, ensuring balanced allocation based on need and coverage.
“The water release commenced on Sunday and is scheduled to continue until April 10, with a possibility of extension by another five days depending on the requirement,” said KC Division Executive Engineer Ravi to TNIE.
He further explained that approximately 7 to 10 TMC of water is expected to be released during this period to adequately meet drinking water needs across the districts. Notably, so far, water is being drawn from the Prakasam Barrage and from inflows in local rivulets following recent rains.
From Tuesday onwards, additional water will be sourced from the Pulichintala Project to sustain and stabilise the ongoing supply, ensuring there is no disruption during peak demand days.
Typically, the canal water supply is stopped after the completion of the Kharif agricultural season in December.
After a couple of months gap, limited releases are initiated in February to meet basic drinking water needs in select areas. With the onset of peak summer, the supply is significantly increased as part of a well-planned seasonal strategy.