Sriramsagar drying up due to shortage

Nizamabad: The Sriramsagar project, a lifeline for the north Telangana districts, is drying up fast. Shortage of water and evaporation losses have adversely affected water levels in the project.

As a result, people in composite Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar district may face drinking and irrigation problems. For the next three months, water availability in SRSP is almost impossible.

The project has full reservoir capacity of 90.313 tmc. Presently, it has merely 7.84 tmc. Last year on the same day (April 14), water level was 8.27 tmc. For full reservoir level of 1,091 feet, the project had 1,053 ft on Sunday. Of 7.84 tmc, 5 tmc is mixed with mud. According to project sources, evaporation losses may be 1 tmc for the next three months as daily evaporation loss is estimated at 138 cusecs.

The SRSP received only 75 tmc of water from upstream areas this year. The state government has earmarked 6.5 tmc of water for the Mission Bhagiratha scheme. In this context, water availability for drinking water has become problematic. Usually, SRSP officials release water for NTPC and drinking water in Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Nirmal, Jagtial and Karimnagar districts.

Around 10,000 fishermen families depend on the SRSP for their livelihood. Dead storage level also leads to death of fish in large quantities. Last year, fish died due to red tail disease in tonnes due to dead storage level. Fishermen are worrying that this may repeat.