HYDERABAD: Telangana officials have requested that the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) restrain Andhra Pradesh from drawing any water from the Srisailam reservoir for this water year.
In a letter to the KRMB, Irrigation Secretary Rahul Bojja said that AP is entitled to draw only 15 tmcft from Srisailam for drinking water supply to Chennai. No condition states that Chennai water supply should be given priority over water supply to Hyderabad or Mission Bhagiratha, he said.
It is observed from RSMS data that the AP government is drawing water from Muchumarri even now through the foreshore of the Srisailam reservoir, he stated.
As per the 2011 Census, the population within the Krishna basin of Telangana is over 2 crore while it is 78 lakh in Andhra Pradesh, which translates to 46.4 tmcft for Telangana and 18 tmcft for Andhra Pradesh at 150 litres per capita per day considering 20% losses, Bojja said.
As per DPRs placed before KWDT-II, the drinking water requirement is just 8.85 tmcft for AP, whereas it is about 40 tmcft for Telangana (24 tmcft for Mission Bhagiratha and 16.5 tmcft for HMWS&SB). “As such it is to be noted that Andhra Pradesh is diverting more water for irrigation outside Krishna basin in the name of drinking water in this acute deficit year also,” the official added.
Telangana requirements
Further, the irrigation secretary informed the KRMB that Telangana urgently requires 11.769 tmcft of drinking water across various reservoirs, including Jurala (0.4 tmcft), Ramanapadu (0.208 tmcft), Srisailam project (Yellore reservoir) (1.765 tmcft), Palair (1.443 tmcft), Udayasamudram (0.35 tmcft), Akkampally Balancing (7.584 tmcft), and Pendlipaka (0.0191 tmcft).
The remaining water of above 15.231 tmcft at Srisailam may be kept for meeting the emergency needs of Telangana and also carried over to the next water year 2024–25 to meet any further delays in inflows from Maharashtra and Karnataka, Bojja said.