HYDERABAD: With drinking water becoming acute in Greater Hyderabad and its peripheral areas, the irrigation and command area development department has decided to stop the release of Singur water into the Nizamsagar for irrigation.
Principal secretary (irrigation) Prasanta Mahapatra issued a memo directing irrigation offiicials to instruct the concerned to stop release of water for irrigation and allow drawal only by the Hyderabad Metro Water Board.
As the water in the Singur reservoir has dipped to alarming levels, HMWS&SB officials told I&CAD officials that further releases from Singur for irrigation would seriously diminish the storage of water for drinking in the state capital.
If water is supplied to farmers, the city will suffer and in case regular daily supplies to the GHMC are maintained, the downstream ayacut in Medak district will go dry. As on March 5, the water level at the Singur dam was 520.094 m as against 522.826 m last year.
According to government orders, if the water level falls to 520.254, then the irrigation department should stop releasing water to the ayacut. Singur supplies 120 to 125 million gallons of water a day (MGD) to Hyderabad.
An irrigation department order issued in 1990 said clearly that water should not be released for irrigation if the Singur reservoir level fell below the prescribed cut-off levels. The Singur reservoir level on March 1 was 520.142 m, which is lower than the prescribed level of 520.254 m.