NIZAMABAD : The Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP), built on the river Godavari at Pochampad in Nizamabad, is often hailed as Telangana Vara Pradayani—a lifeline that irrigates over a million acres across five erstwhile districts. But today, the mighty reservoir is quietly losing its strength, not to drought, but to floods and the silt they bring along.
Recurring floods have led to severe soil erosion, stripping catchment areas of fertility and steadily filling SRSP with layers of sand, gravel, clay, and silt. Once capable of storing 112 tmcft, the reservoir first showed signs of decline in 1994 when its capacity dropped to 90.3 tmcft. By 2022, it had shrunk further to 80 tmcft.
Ironically, while a silt prevention structure was built during the project’s early years, it has never been put to use. In Nirmal, water conservation structures were constructed, yet silt bypasses them, flowing unchecked into SRSP. From Majalgaon to Pochampad, a 362-kilometre stretch, no major barrier exists to contain these deposits. Officials have now drawn up a Rs 10,000 crore plan to remove silt, using techniques usually employed at sea. The work is expected to take a decade and would require international expertise.
Kotha Ravi, assistant engineer at SRSP, explains the scale of the challenge. “There is strong market demand for silt, clay, gravel, and sand, but creating new storage is not easy. Just one tmcft of water storage needs more than 150 acres of land and costs over Rs 100 crore.
With limited land available and procurement from locals proving difficult, the government faces tough odds,” he said, pointing out how delays in building new projects are compounding the crisis. Another engineer at SRSP stressed that irrigation is a shared responsibility of both the Union and state governments.
Kamareddy Forest Divisional Officer PV Rama Krishna reminded that: “This is a serious issue; we can’t create soil in the lab. Soil erosion is one of the biggest drivers of ecological imbalance, and it is worsening. Rivers must flow continuously, but we must slow their pace—let water seep into the ground to recharge aquifers.”
On the ground, farmers share the same anxiety. Muralidhar Rao, a vegetable merchant and farmer from Birkur, wonders why government agencies have not encouraged planting of protective crops along canals and tributaries.