Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Water level recedes at barrage

Staff Reporter

Irrigation officials lower crest gates to maintain statutory level

VIJAYAWADA: The water level at the Prakasam Barrage has begun to recede prompting Irrigation Department officials to lower the crest gates in order to maintain the statutory water level of 12 feet in the reservoir, here on Saturday.

The Krishna witnessed floods for nearly a week. But the discharge at the barrage began to drop gradually on Saturday, from 1 a.m. onwards. According to the records available with the Irrigation Department, the reservoir witnessed 5.2-lakh cusecs of inflows at 1 a.m., which dropped to 2.53-lakh cusecs by 6 p.m.

The authorities had to lower all the 70 crest gates to 6 feet (6 feet from river bed) to maintain the statutory level.

Drastic drop

The authorities began lowering the level of the crest gates after a drastic drop of 2-lakh cusecs between 1 a.m. and 12 noon and all the 70 gates were lowered to eight feet. The levels of the gate had to be changed again at 3 p.m. and 50 gates were lowered to 7 feet and 20 gates kept at 8 feet as the inflow to the barrage dropped to 2.9-lakh cusecs.

As the flood receded gates were lowered again at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

While the difference in water level upstream the barrage is 2.20 feet there is a drastic drop of 8.20 feet downstream barrage. The barrage is likely to receive a surplus of a little over 2-lakh cusecs for the next 24 hours, as the discharge at Nagarjunasagar Project had also dropped to about 2.5-lakh cusecs. The fall in water level downstream the barrage provided some relief to people residing on the riverbanks and in island villages. But it may take more than a couple of days for it to be safe for people in relief camps to return to their homes.

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