ANANTAPUR: With major projects in the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers and their subsidiaries having received full storage capacity due to heavy rains, the Rayalaseema districts will hopefully have enough water for the entire year.
Already, Srisailam’s backwater has been released towards Jeedipalli Reservoir under Handri Neeva Sujala Shravanthi Canal to cover Anantapur district and parts of Chittoor and Kurnool districts. The GNSS (Galeru Nagari Sujala Shravanthi) project’s main canal will fill Gandikota reservoir in Kadapa district through Owk reservoir from Kurnool district. The irrigation authorities expect the region will receive maximum water allocations during the present year.
Further, the Tunga-bhadra reservoir which is also filled with water from upstream inflows will cover the needs of Anantapur, Kadapa and Kurnool districts through HLMC and LLC canals.
HNSS authorities were planning to fill subsidiary reservoirs and tanks with Krishna waters being received from Kurnool district through eight pumping stations towards Jeedipalli reservoir in Anantapur district. HNSS authorities said Krishna water is fast filling Jeedipalli reservoir in Belaguppa mandal which would in turn fill PABR (Penna Ahobilum Balancing Reservoir), Mid Pennar Dam and Gollapalli reservoir in Penukonda mandal.
HNSS chief engineer Mr Narayana Swamy hoped the subsidiary reservoirs and tanks under the HNSS project will get filled with adequate water during the monsoon this year, following heavy storage in Tungabhadra Reservoir and Srisailam.
The PABR alone will meet drinking water needs of entire Anantapur district. Special projects such as Srirami Reddy drinking water project would also help the rural water supply. Officials observed that there would be no drinking water crisis during the present year.
Further, Gandikota reservoir located in Kadapa district is expected to get full storage during this year because of Srisailam water allocations. Presently, Gandikota has 4.09 TMC ft of water after water being released from Owk Reservoir. Irrigation authorities said Chitravathi Balancing Reservoir (CBR) would have full storage capacity. “CBR project was filled with 10 TMC ft water with Krishna water,” a senior engineer said.
