Drought, Water Scarcity May Impact Poll Outcome in Rayalaseema

Anantapur: The severe drought conditions and drinking water crisis are likely to impact the May 13 poll outcome in many parts of Rayalaseema region.

The failure of the South West monsoon had an adverse impact on the water sources of Andhra Pradesh throughout the year. Rainfall in October was inadequate and this too affected the drinking water sources across the region.

Major sources for irrigation, Tungabhadra and Srisailam and other connecting reservoirs, were at dead storage levels. These were unable to meet the minimum needs of the people during the peak summer season.

The TB dam had a storage of about 90tmc-ft last year but the condition was worse this year with only around 8tmc-ft water in it.

Similarly, the Krishna basin depends on Srisailam reservoir, but the dam has already reached dead storage level and is unable to meet the needs of the tail-end areas.

The irrigation authorities have stopped water supply to Handri Neeva, a major source of Rayalaseema from Srisailam backwaters. The TB board has stopped water to HLMC and LLC towards AP after the allocated quota is exhausted.

The rural water supply department and municipalities have been proposing supply of water through tankers in the villages. This, after the bore wells used for drinking water purposes failed due to depletion of ground water sources.

"We are facing a crisis even in urban areas at the time of polling in May," a senior leader from Ananatapur observed. He said RWS teams should be provided necessary funds to meet the water crisis till the declaration of results.