The Hindu : Crucial meet today on Tungabhadra water release

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 06, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Kurnool

Crucial meet today on Tungabhadra water release

By Our Staff Reporter

KURNOOL, FEB. 5. The Collector, Ajay Jain, will hold the crucial meeting of revenue, irrigation and police officials at Adoni on Friday to discuss the strategy for safe transmission of 1.1 tmcft of water from Tungabhadra (TB) dam to Gajuladinne project and other tanks in the district.

Kurnool city, Adoni, Yemmiganur and scores of villages have to survive on the storage available in the dam till summer is over. The Superintending Engineer, Abdul Basheer, camped at Hospet for two days to coordinate with the Tungabhadra Board for the release of water. The board officials were believed to have advised the State official to prepare the schedule for drawing water jointly along with Karnataka. The water would be drawn through Tungabhadra Low Level Canal (LLC), which passes through Karnataka to a distance of 131 km.

The Irrigation Department of Karnataka is yet to make a formal requisition for drinking water. According to Mr. Basheer, Andhra Pradesh has a storage of 0.36 tmcft from its quota in the reservoir besides the proportionate allotment of 0.68 tmcft from the residual storage. As per the tentative plan, 1.1 tmcft would be drawn for 26 days at the rate of 500 cusecs. Of this, the rural water supply schemes are expected to consume 108.5 cusecs and Yemmiganur and Adoni towns 15 cusecs while transmission losses, including evaporation losses, were estimated to be 162 cusecs at the rate of one cusec for every two km.

The distance between the Tungabhadra dam and Gajuladinne project is 324 km. The LLC canal enters the State at Chintakunta at 131 km. After transmission losses and meeting the needs of upper reaches, around 220 cusecs is expected to flow into the Gajuladinne project. In 26 days, about 500 mcft would be collected in the reservoir. In addition, irrigation authorities have decided to stock 500 mcft from its original storage. As on Thursday, 590 mcft was available in the Gajuladinne while 90 mcft would be used for supply to the standing crops under its canals. A total of one tmcft would be available for drinking water needs of Kurnool city if every thing went well.

Meanwhile, the Water Works Department is planning to manage till February end by drawing from the Tungabhadra river and the KC canal in which around 15 mcft has been stocked by constructing a cross bund at 21 km near Kurnool. Also, the flow in the river is likely to improve after reopening of vents at RDS anicut. The vents were closed a few days ago to enable the RDS canal draw water from its quota. After the RDS utilised the quota, the vents were reopened which ensured a flow of 120 cusecs in the river.

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