VIJAYAWADA: With continuous rainfall in the upper catchment areas of River Krishna in Karnataka and Telangana, the Central Water Commission (CWC) has issued an advisory that the major projects in Andhra Pradesh may release excess water for the next two to three days.
Though the Irrigation department has issued the first warning at 11.30 am as inflow to Prakasam Barrage increased to 4.1 lakh cusecs, it was later withdrawn at 6.45 pm as the water level came down to 3.9 lakh cusecs. “Rainfall may again increase the flow in west flowing rivers and in Upper Krishna, Upper Bhima, Upper Godavari and Cauvery Basins. Most of the dams in Krishna Basin are already at Full Reservoir Level (FRL) or very near to FRL.
Due to continuous rainfall in North Interior Karnataka, River Kagna is rising rapidly at Malkhed in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka and this has submerged the road bridge at Malkhed. Flows in Kagna is contributing to the increased inflows in River Bhima in Yadgir district of Karnataka. This will lead to additional inflow into PD Jurala Project on River Krishna in Jogulamba Gadwal district of Telangana.
Since Jurala is nearly full, the releases from Jurala to Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala dams are also likely to release excess water for another two-three days,” the CWC’s flood advisory said on Friday. During the day, the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) sounded off a caution in the lower Krishna Basin.
At 6 pm, Srisailam recorded an inflow of 2.28 lakh cusecs and was discharging 2.05 lakh cusecs. The reservoir has 212.19 TMC of water at 884.42 feet as against its FRL capacity of 215.81 TMC at 885 feet. Nagarjuna Sagar Dam was getting an inflow of 1.71 lakh cusecs and was discharging the same at 6 pm. It has 310.85 TMC of water at 589.6 feet as against the FRL of 312.05 TMC at 590 feet.
Though Pulichintala received higher inflow in the day, it went down to 93,500 cusecs at 8 pm and was discharging 1.35 lakh cusecs to Prakasam Barrage. From 4.07 lakh cusecs at 6 pm, the inflow reduced to 3.59 lakh cusecs at 7 pm in Prakasam Barrage and is expected to further recede. It was discharging a surplus of around 3.85 lakh cusecs.
The CWC also said that the water levels in Godavari Basin are also expected to surge due to the rainfall forecast in the upper catchment area of the river. It said that the surplus water from Maharashtra is likely to reach Laxmi Barrage in Telangana and may be released to lower basin subsequently.