HYDERABAD: Telangana is grappling with a drought-like situation due to a shortage of rainfall recorded over the past six months. This has caused the water levels in reservoirs across the state to drop.
With a rainfall of 59.2 mm against the expected 136.9 mm from October 2023 to the end of March this year, the state registered a 56.7% deficit in rainfall compared to the corresponding period the previous year.
Official sources said there was 5% more rainfall than predicted, but the deficit since October 2023 has led to a crisis. Due to changing climatic conditions, there was heavy rainfall from June to October in 2023 while some districts witnessed torrential downpours in July last year.
However, since then, there has been a dry spell in the state, due to which the groundwater level has dipped. The sources pointed out that the water level in March this year has come down by 2.5 metres when compared to last year.
Additionally, the lack of rainfall has also caused the water in 14 major reservoirs in the Krishna and Godavari basins to nearly drop to dead storage levels. According to the government, the Jurala project in the Krishna basin recorded an inflow of 154.05 tmcft, as compared to 1229.88 tmcft in 2023, 885.85 tmcft in 2022 and 1306.25 tmcft in 2021. Similarly, the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) has 137.52 tmcft of water this year against 166.78 tmcft in the same period last year.
“As much as 50 tmcft of water is required for the cultivation of six lakh acres of crops in the ongoing Rabi season from the NSP. However, the water available throughout the year is only 35 tmcft. However, 27 tmcft of this water was released by the previous government and only 8 tmcft remains, which is insufficient for irrigation,” officials said.
Water level low in reservoirs supplying water to Hyd
The officials added, “Congress, upon assuming power, declared that it will not be able to provide irrigation water under the NSP.”
The cumulative water level in the reservoirs supplying drinking water to Hyderabad — Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Singur, Manjeera and Akkampally — is 25.38 tmcft against 29.712 tmcft in the same period last year. The full tank capacity of these five reservoirs is 39.783 tmcft.
Meanwhile, in the Godavari basin, the average inflow to the SRSP in 2023–24 is 205.75 tmcft while it was 677.94 tmcft in 2022. The Sripada Yellampalli project currently has 7.85 tmcft of water while it was 12.26 tmcft at the same time last year.