Tungabhadra Dam Nears Full Capacity Amid Heavy Rainfall

Anantapur: The Tungabhadra Dam continues to experience heavy inflows due to substantial rainfall in the upstream Krishna Basin, maintaining a steady storage level of 101.77 TMC ft for the past five days. The Tungabhadra Board has been releasing 34,000 cusecs of water into the river. Despite damage to one of the dam's gates, the persistent rains upstream have led to a recovery of lost storage and even increased it since last month.

The Tungabhadra Dam has accumulated 331.34 TMC ft of water this rainy season, a significant increase compared to last year's 100 TMC ft. High Level Main Canal (HLMC) Superintendent Engineer Rajasekhar confirmed that the dam is receiving and discharging 34,000 cusecs of water, which is directed towards the HLMC and the Low-Level Canal (LLC).

The dam's full storage capacity is 105.78 TMC ft, but it is currently held at 101.77 TMC ft to maintain a 1.5 TMC ft flood cushion for safety.

With the dam nearing full capacity, engineers for the HLMC and LLC are focused on filling irrigation tanks and reservoirs. Additionally, Srisailam backwaters are being released into the Handri Neeva Sujala Shravanthi and Galeru Nagari Sujala Shravanthi projects to support the Rayalaseema region's needs.

The Jeedipalli Reservoir, which is a key storage point for Anantapur and Satya Sai districts, holds 1.68 TMC ft of water and is discharging 1,026 cusecs to replenish downstream reservoirs and summer storage tanks. The Gandikota Reservoir in Kadapa district has recorded 22.38 TMC ft, reaching 83% of its storage capacity due to continuous inflows of 12,509 cusecs from the GNSS Main Canal. Meanwhile, the Chitravati Reservoir currently holds 4.67 TMC ft out of a possible 9.98 TMC ft, with recent inflows of 1,410 cusecs.