14 gates of Nagarjuna Sagar lifted

With River Krishna getting huge inflows in the past week, water levels in various projects in the basin are inching towards the Full Reservoir Level, On Sunday, 14 gates of the Nagarjuna Sagar project were opened to release water downstream.

With the upstream projects in neighbouring Karnataka getting filled to the brim, officials have been releasing water downstream. As a result, there are steady inflows into Jurala, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar projects. Following over 5.18 lakh cusecs inflows into Nagarjuna Sagar, officials opened 14 crest gates and released 1.05 lakh cusecs downstream on Sunday evening.

A bulletin released at 3 pm on Sunday said the water storage capacity in Srisailam project was 206.97 tmc against its gross capacity of 215.81 tmc. Similarly, the water storage in Nagarjuna Sagar project was 293.10 tmc against the FRL capacity of 312.05 tmc.

Inflows into projects in Godavari basin, however, are relatively low, but water levels in most projects have almost reached full capacity. The current storage capacity in Sriram Sagar project, Mid Manair, Lower Manair and Sripada



Yellampally projects is over 90 per cent.

Meanwhile, with the crest gates of Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar projects opened to release water downstream, there has been a surge in visitors, especially people from Hyderabad at the dam sites to witness the sight of water gushing out of the gates. A festive atmosphere prevailed at the two dam sites as families spent quality time capturing the images of dams and taking selfies.

Meanwhile, Nagarjuna Sagar Project Superintendent Engineer Dharma Naik, who formally lifted the crest gates by pressing the switch in the control board, said the water level in the project had almost reached the FRL. The inflows into the project were continuing at 4,64,781 lakh cusecs.

“For the first time in the history of the project, we are releasing water through crest gates and to the left canal about 15 days ahead of the usual time. Inflows into the project may further increase by one lakh cusecs by midnight on Sunday. Based on the inflow, a decision would be taken on lifting the other gates,” he said.