Vijayawada: Heavy water inflow into the Krishna river following rainfall in its catchment areas forced the Telangana authorities to open six radial crest gates of the Nagarjunasagar dam to release water downstream. At 7.30 pm on Wednesday, it was received 2.81 lakh cusecs of water.
G. Paramesh, the deputy executive engineer of the Telangana water resources authority, said, “We are going to lift six gates by 10 feet to discharge surplus water downstream into the river by Thursday morning, beginning with 80,000 cusecs and reaching up to 2.5 lakh cusecs.”
In the interim, districts in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh located along the course of the Krishna were put on alert.
The water stood at Nagarjunasagar at 583 feet, against the full reservoir level of 590 feet. The water capacity was at 291.67 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) against the total capacity of over 312 tmc ft.
Andhra Pradesh officials said that as huge amounts of water are to be discharged into the sea through the Pulichintala and Prakasam barrages, residents must not venture into the river for any purpose.
Krishna river conservator P.V.R. Krishna Rao said, “As it takes nearly 24 hours for the water released at Nagarjunasagar Dam to reach Prakasam Barrage, we are preparing to issue alert notice to the people living along the course in low-lying areas.”
