Hyderabad: With dismal inflows into the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar Project reservoirs due to the weak monsoon earlier this year, the irrigation department has decided to utilise the water that is available there only to meet drinking water requirements for the next six months. Officials have been instructed to abide by this proposal and not release water for irrigation or for hydel power generation.
In Srisailam, officials preserved 27 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of water for supplying drinking water to villages in erstwhile Mahbubnagar district under Mission Bhagiratha.
Two tmc ft of water was also preserved in Narlapur reservoir to address the additional requirements that may arise during the summer and in the event of a delayed monsoon next year.
An irrigation department official said, “With the water stored in Srisailam, we will be able to meet the needs till the end of summer. We have informed farmers that water cannot be supplied to them for the rabi season.”
Those owning agricultural land near lakes and are dependent on borewells can carry out cultivation works as usual but they will not be provided water from Srisailam this time, he said.
In NSP, 20 tmc ft of water has been preserved to meet the drinking water needs of Hyderabad and the erstwhile Nalgonda district. Owing to dismal inflows, water was not supplied to farmers during kharif and it would be likewise in rabi.
Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy made it clear during a review meeting with officials from Khammam and Nalgonda districts that priority must be given to supply of drinking water till summer.
- Priority for drinking water supply: Uttam
