KRMB panel reserves Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar water for drinking needs; share ratio deferred
The three-member committee of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) that met in Hyderabad on Monday decided to utilise the water available in the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs only for drinking water purposes, and not for irrigation. The decision was taken in view of the prevailing El Nino conditions and poor inflows into the two joint storage facilities.
No agreement was reached on the ratio in which the two riparian states – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – would share the available water. The committee decided to reconvene on September 4 to determine the sharing ratio for meeting drinking water needs until June-July next year.
The meeting was attended by Satish Kamboj, Member-Secretary of the river board and chairman of the three-member committee, along with Engineers-in-Chief O.V. Ramesh Babu (Telangana) and K. Narasimha Murthy (Andhra Pradesh).
According to data presented at the meeting, as of Monday morning, the inflow into Srisailam stood at 206.67 tmc ft, while Nagarjunasagar received 75.6 tmc ft. These inflows were supplemented by flood water released from upstream projects in Karnataka and Maharashtra, as well as rains in the local catchment areas. As of 6 pm on Monday, Srisailam held 166.7 tmc ft against its full capacity of 215.8 tmc ft, while Nagarjunasagar held 178.3 tmc ft against its full capacity of 312 tmc ft.
The project authorities shared details of current drawals. Andhra Pradesh has been drawing 11,050 cusecs through the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator and the Malyala-Handri Neeva systems. Telangana has been drawing 2,400 cusecs for the Kalwakurthy Lift. Both states have also been intermittently releasing water from their hydel generation units to Nagarjunasagar. Additionally, Telangana has been drawing 2,000 cusecs from Nagarjunasagar for drinking water needs, besides releasing water to the Pulichintala project after hydel generation.
Telangana's Engineer-in-Chief, Mr. Ramesh Babu, stated that the state requested a 50% share of the water available in the two projects, arguing that the water would be used solely for drinking purposes and that Telangana's population within the Krishna Basin is significantly higher than that of Andhra Pradesh. However, it is learnt that Andhra Pradesh insisted on continuing the existing ad hoc sharing arrangement of 66:34 (AP:Telangana) even for drinking water needs.
The committee's next meeting on September 4 is expected to address the contentious issue of water sharing ratios. In the interim, both states have been asked to continue meeting drinking water requirements from the available storage, while adhering to the decision to avoid irrigation use.
