Water crisis looms over Madhurawada

Visakhapatnam: Water scarcity is looming large over the areas in and around Kommadi, Yendada, Paradesipalem Madhurawada and Sagarnagar with decreased levels of water in the Gosthani river.

While the Town Service Reservoir contributes to a major share of the water needs through the pipeline, about 4 MGD of water is drawn from Gosthani and 1 MGD each from the Gambheeram and Mudasarlova reservoirs to these areas.
Even though the officials are releasing additional water from the Tatipudi reservoir to recharge the infiltration wells of Gosthani, the farmers of  Vizianagaram are objecting the allocation of water and halted the release of water for a few days in the beginning of April.

As a consequence, the duration of water supply has decreased in some parts of the 4th and 5th wards of the city. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, M. Sithapathi, a resident of Pothinamallayya Palem, informed that the water supply has come down to alternative day and added that the duration has also come down. “Last week, there was no water supply for two consecutive days in the colony,” he added.

With the infiltration wells of Gosthani drying up each year during the summer months, the water scarcity has become a common occurrence in and around these areas and the supply from the nearby reservoirs couldn’t alone meet the demands of the area.

The GVMC officials wrote a letter to the Vizianagaram collector asking for release of water from the Tatipudi reservoir to recharge the riverbed. When the officials tried to release water from Tatipudi after getting consent from the district collector, some local farmers protested against the move and halted it for a few days.

However, the officials convinced the farmers and released some water.
When contacted, a GVMC official informed that at present, there is no problem with the water supply as water has been released from Tatipudi reservoir recently. He said that they are expecting smooth summer ahead, in terms of water supply.

While the Yeleru/Godavari contributes about 22 MGD of water to Vizag city, the Meghadrigadda reservoir supplies about 15 MGD followed by Tatipudi of 11 MGD.

But as the Yeleru canal reached the dead storage-level, the GVMC officials had started pumping water into the canal from the Yeleru reservoir in January, besides drawing water from the Kateru pumphouse to meet the water demands of the city.

Recently, the officials had to carry out sand casting and deepen the pilot channel due to reducing inflows to river Godavari. People are worried they might have to face more crisis in the coming days.