VIJAYAWADA: Heavy inflows continued in the Krishna basin on Friday, prompting officials to lift 18 of the 26 gates of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project. With inflows continuing and Nagarjuna Sagar set to reach its full reservoir level, the Central Water Commission (CWC) issued a special advisory for the Pulichintala Project and Prakasam Barrage, both below Nagarjuna Sagar, to exercise caution and pre-deplete to avoid flooding.
In the Godavari basin, water started surging again on Friday, and continued to show a ‘severe flood situation with slow rising trend’. At 9 pm, the third warning was issued, with flood discharge reaching 18,97,702 cusecs at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Dowlesawaram. The CWC’s forecast said the river level is likely to recede within two or three days as the rainfall is likely to reduce.
As the Srisailam reservoir on the Krishna continued to receive a heavy flood discharge of 3.93 lakh cusecs (as of 7 pm, Friday), officials lifted 10 crest gates and were letting 3.82 lakh cusecs (at 7 pm) down into Nagarjuna Sagar. Srisailam, at 7 pm, held 211.61 TMCft against its full reservoir capacity of 215.81 TMCft. It has an inflow of 4 lakh cusecs, and the water reached 586 ft, as against its full reservoir level (FRL) of 590 ft, and about 12 TMCft of flood cushion.Nagarjuna Sagar’s gross storage capacity at FRL is 312.05 TMCft. Officials lifted four crest gates in the morning and later operated 12 to regulate the flow.
Be vigilant, CWC tells EG, WG administrations
The water level in the Krishna and its tributaries, such as Tungabhadra and Bhima, is expected to continue rising slowly, and most dams in the basin are expected to release a considerable amount of water due to the forecasted rainfall. A close watch is to be maintained... in Kurnool, Guntur and Krishna districts,” the CWC said.Noting that the discharge from Nagarjuna Sagar would continue for three-to-five days, the CWC, in its special advisory for Prakasam Barrage and Pulichintala Project, said, “Nagarjuna Sagar is expected to rapidly increase its outflow in the next three-five days.
The combined flows from Sagar, Musi and Halia will be released at Pulichintala Project, and inflows are likely to rise rapidly. Further, releases from Pulichintala, and flows from Wyra along with Munneru, will be realised at Prakasam Barrage.”While Pulichintala, which is 58 per cent filled, was getting 1.08 lakh cusecs at 7 pm, Prakasam Barrage recorded an inflow of 1.27 L cusecs and an outflow of 1.14 lakh cusecs.
On the other side, the Godavari back to the third warning level of flooding after receding for two days.
The water levels gradually rose since morning due to rains upstream of Bhadrachalam. Irrigation officials have given the third warning at Bhadrachalam, for the second time in the last few days.
The second warning continued at Dowleswaram’s Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage, where the discharge increased from 15 lakh cusecs at 6 am to 18.78 lakh cusecs at 8 pm. With this, the water level increased with a gauge reading up to 17.60 ft at 8 pm from 15.50 ft at 6 am. In Bhadrachalam, the gauge reading moved up to 55.30 ft at 8 pm from 54 ft at 6 am. According to officials, the water level remained stable at Bhadrachalam from 4 pm.
“Godavari and its tributaries, such as Wainganga, Wardha, Indravati and Sabari, are flowing in a ‘severe flood situation’ with a slow rising trend. As the rainfall is likely to reduce, the river level is likely to slowly recede in the next two-three days,” the CWC said, and advised vigil in East and West Godavari districts.Upstream of the SAC Barrage and agency villages were inundated. The villages had lost road connectivity since August 16. Meanwhile, the River Godavari catchment edge is getting eroded by floodwater in Devipatnam.
Discharge to go on for up to five days
The CWC, in an advisory for Prakasam Barrage and Pulichintala Project, said the discharge from Nagarjuna Sagar would continue for three-to-five days, and inflows are likely to rise rapidly