Jurala project to touch FRL in next 3 days

The Jurala Project is expected to touch the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 1,045 feet in the next three days with inflows from the upstream projects of Krishna river in Karnataka likely to cross the six figure mark in the next 36 hours. All the Karnataka projects are almost full to the brim following heavy rains in the catchment areas and the subsequent water discharges from these projects are on the rise.

The water level in Jurala project on Sunday was 1,026 feet holding 1.98 tmc, against its gross storage capacity of 9.65 tmc. Since 11,000-plus cusecs of water flow translates into 1 tmc, officials say that with the water flow expected to touch 1,00,000 cusecs in the next 36 hours, the full capacity would be achieved within a day of the inflows coming in.

Following heavy rains in the catchment areas of Krishna river, authorities of Narayanpur dam sounded a flood alert for the projects downstream. The outflow from the dam which was 10,000 cusecs at 8 am on Sunday was expected to touch 1,00,000 cusecs around midnight.

About 50,000 cusecs of flood water was let out from Narayanpur dam on Sunday evening and it will take a little more than a day for the flood water to reach Jurala where the inflows till this evening were a little over 200 cusecs only. The project’s gross storage was 1.98 tmc on July



28, against 9.4 tmc on the same day last year. As per the advisory issued by the Irrigation Department for the Jurala project, consequent to “heavy releases at Narayanpur dam on Sunday evening, heavy inflows are expected at Huvinhedigi (base station).”

Subsequently, Jurala Project will benefit from the fresh inflows and it may not take more than a day for the Jurala project to touch the FRL of 1,045 ft. Rise in the volume of inflows into the project should bring a lot of cheer to the kharif farmers in Jurala ayacut spread across erstwhile Mahabubnagar district.

The advisory instructed the project authorities to monitor the situation accordingly. According to the flood forecast issued by the Lower Krishna division, the flood level is on the rise and the inflows are expected to cross 98,000 cusecs by 8 am on Monday.

Almatti dam is also receiving inflows of 88,000 cusecs. Water level in the project touched 519.35 metres, against the FRL of 519.35 metres. The gross storage in Srisailam project was only 31.13 tmc on July 28, against 148.35 tmc on the same day last year. The Nagarjuna Sagar project too is waiting for its first inflows of the year. Its gross storage is only 126.63 tmc on Sunday, against 133.89 tmc on the same day last year.