Irrigation projects in Telangana brimming with water

With heavy rains lashing the upstream areas of Godavari river in Telangana and neighbouring Maharashtra for the past few days, major irrigation projects on the Godavari basin have been receiving heavy inflows. As a result of rising water levels in the irrigation projects such as Nizamsagar, Sriram Sagar and Kadam, the irrigation department has lifted the gates to allow outflow downstream. Engineers have been told to be on alert and also keep a tab on low-lying areas.

According to officials, Kadam project has instant inflows of 8,990 cusecs of water, while the outflow is 10,000 cusecs downstream. Project officials lifted two gates to three feet height to allow the outflows on Thursday. Despite that, the water levels touched 697 feet as against full reservoir level of 700 feet.

Sripada Yellampally project is also receiving good inflows to the tune of 20,000 cusecs, while outflows were 790 cusecs. Sriram Sagar project is getting 4,500 cusecs from upstream areas like Maharashtra and Singur is getting 430 cusecs inflows a day.



“Small and medium irrigation project such as Taliperu and Komaram Bheem in erstwhile Adilabad district and Musi in Nalgonda are also getting good inflows,” a senior irrigation official said.

The water level in many projects is much better as compared to last year. In Godavari basin, the water level at Nizamsagar is 511 feet as compared to 501 feet last year on the same day (July 12). The water level at Yellampally project is 800 feet as compared to 780 feet on the same day last year.

However, the inflows in the projects on Krishna river basin have not been satisfactory as there have been no rains in the upstream areas, including Karnataka. But, the water level is slightly high in Nagarjunsagar project that supplies water to Hyderabad. The water level at Nagarjunsagar is 511 feet as compared to 501 feet last year. However, in Jurala project, the water level is 1,037 feet as compared to 1,041 feet last year. Krishna waters enter Telangana from AP and Karnataka through Jurala project.