Rajahmundry: Even though several parts of the state experienced incessant rainfall over the last few days, surprisingly the Godavari river has received very little inflow of water. So far, there has been scanty rainfall in its catchment area.
The Godavari received about 1,000 tmc ft of water since June 1 till date, while it received over 2,000 tmc ft of water last year for the same period. At present, the flow of water into the river is steady and is fluctuating. The authorities are releasing water amounting to 60,000-80,000 cusecs, depending upon inflows into the sea from Sir Arthur Cotton barrage at Dowleswaram.
They are also releasing water to Godavari East, West and central delta canals to the extent of 7,000-10,000 cusecs of water. In case of heavy rainfall, they will release only 7,000 cusecs to the three canals to help farmers cultivate crops, mainly paddy, in the Godavari delta area.
Normally, the Godavari river experiences the ‘flood’ season from July 1 onwards till October 31 every year.
This year, the river has not yet received any major inflows so far as the authorities have discharged a maximum of only 5.60 lakh cusecs of water from the barrage into the sea.
There were instances when the authorities had released 10 lakh cusecs of water and more, earlier.
When the first warning is issued, nearly 10 lakh cusecs of water will be released into the sea from the barrage.
With just a few days to go for completion of the month of October, the Water Resources authorities are not expecting any heavy inflow of water into the river this season.
Even if there are a series of cyclonic storms as predicted towards the end of October and the beginning of November in the state, the authorities say that there may not be any heavy flow of water into the river, even if several parts of the state witness heavy rainfall.
They say that unless there is heavy rain in the river (catchment area), rivers like the Pranahitha, Indravati, Sabari, Seeleru and others will receive a good input of water and this may cause the Godavari to get more water.
Local streams and rivulets which overflow due to heavy rainfall locally, may not be able to bring a good amount of water into the Godavari.
However, the (water resources) authorities say that the steady water level in the river is of immense use to operate several lift irrigation schemes to lift and pump water to far-off places for cultivation of crops.
The Godavari conservator, N. Krishna Rao said, “There is not much water flowing into the Godavari river so far this monsoon. The water level is being maintained steadily.”
