Rains that came late this month
are not likely to help the water situation in the state much. The upper
streams of various reservoir catchment areas, tributaries and channels
that water the agricultural fields are still dry. Though it has been
raining for the past few days, the amount of rainfall has been
insufficient. The water levels in major reservoirs have fallen
drastically.
All the major reservoirs in the the Godavari, Krishna
and Penna basins have not been receiving any inflows as the upper
regions have been experiencing severe drought conditions. The lifeline
of the state, the river Krishna, has been waiting for good rains in
Maharashtra and Karnataka. Both these states are yet to receive good
rainfall.
The water levels at reservoirs in Maharashtra —
Jayakwadi, Koyana, Bhima, Isapur, Mula, Yeldari, Girna, Khadakvasla,
Upper Vaitarna and Pench — are at a 10-year low. "We are not expecting
these reservoirs to fill up. This means less outflow to Andhra
Pradesh," said a Central Water Commission official. The situation is
same in Karnataka as well, where Tungabhadra, Ghataprabha, Bhadra,
Linganamakki, Narayanpur and Almatti reservoirs are hit by delayed
monsoon. Barring Almatti, which has almost 50 per cent of the full
reservoir level (FRL), water levels at all other reservoirs have
plummeted to the minimum drawdown level (MDDL). This leaves little hope
for Andhra Pradesh.
Even the water level at Srisailam reservoir has
fallen to 808 ft against FRL of 885 The situation is no better at
Nagarjunasagar. Sriramsagar, Nizamsagar and Singur too have hit 10-year
low water levels. With dwindling water levels the power situation has
been hit hard. While a normal monsoon would have enabled Kerala to
generate nearly 8,000 million units of hydropower, this season, the
depleted rains have brought down the target to half.
Andhra Pradesh, which generates more than 20 million
units every day through Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar, ended up with
less than 4 million units a day. |