TIRUMALA: The recent rains that lashed the seven hills have left a trail of devastation, but on the flip side, did some good. The five reservoirs in Tirumala are now brimming with water. They have enough water to provide drinking water to Tirumala for the next one year without any problem.
The total capacity of all these five dams are 224 MCFT and as of the date the reservoirs are filled at 96 per cent capacity.
Tirumala has five dams — Gogarbham Dam, Kumara Dhara, Pasupu Dhara, Akasha Ganga and Papavinasam — the main sources of water for drinking and other purposes in Tirumala. These apart, Kalyani Dam in Tirupati, also provides water to Tirumala. The temple town has one third of Kalyani dam’s water reserves as its share.
Recent rains that had upended the situation in the region, including Tiramala and Tirupati also filled up all the water bodies. With all water bodies brimming with water, D Nageswar Rao , chief engineer said TTD is planning to conduct ganga pooja at all the dams soon and special poojas at Papavinasam dam.
Tirumala, which has one of the highest floating populations in the country, requires 34 lakh gallons of water per day on an average. Due to Covid pandemic and resultant restrictions, the number of devotees visiting the hill shrine has come down in the last 20 months. Now, with the situation improving, the pilgrim rush to Tirumala is also increasing steadily. At present, the water requirement has come down to 12 to 16 lakh gallons per day.
Officials said that if Kalyani dam is also taken into consideration, Tirumala would have no water problems for another 500 days. Kalyani dam has a total capacity of 900 MCFT and as on date it has achieved full reservoir level. Water to Tirumala from Kalyani dam is drawn through pipelines at Srivari Mettu, where high power pumps are maintained by L&T company.
Kalyani dam has capacity of 900 MCFT
Officials said that if Kalyani dam is also taken into consideration, Tirumala would have no water problems for another 500 days. Kalyani dam has a total capacity of 900 MCFT and as on date it has achieved full reservoir level. Water to Tirumala from Kalyani dam is drawn through pipelines at Srivari Mettu