PNS |Vijayawada
More than 1,263 TMCs of floodwater has reached the sea from rivers Krishna and Godavari in the recent floods. Compared to the previous year, this year approximately 23 TMCs of excess water from Krishna flowed to the sea, while from Godavari 1,265.56 TMCs less water for the same corresponding period.
With heavy rains pouring in the upper catchment area, both the Dowleswaram and Prakasam Barrage crest gates were lifted in the fourth week of July. Though the Water Resources Department officials disclosed the details of discharged surplus water into the rivers Krishna and Godavari from June 1 to till date, the flood water surplus discharge started on July 22.
Compared to the river Krishna, the Godavari overflowed aggressively and many villages in the combined East and West Godavari districts were inundated. Still, several villages are inundated and people are facing a lot of problems. However, the rains stopped, and the flood is receding in the rivers Godavari and Krishna respectively.
This year from June 1, 1,204.50 TMCs of flood water was wasted through Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram. The cumulative surplus into the sea to this period from June 1, 2022, was 2,470.0 TMCs. When compared to the corresponding period in the previous year, this year’s flood water wastage was less by 1,265.56 TMCs.
According to the Water Resources Department reports, the utilisation of the river Godavari flood water was 40.95 TMCs so far. During this flood season, this amount of water was discharged to the Eastern Delta, Western Delta, and Central Delta from the Dowleswaram. On the other hand, the total surplus into the sea from June 1, 2022, to 31 May 2023 was 6,252.390 TMCs and at the same time, the utilisation was 218.050 TMCs.
Whereas, from the river Krishna, the wastage of flood water increased more than the previous year. In the previous year, the water wastage was 35.62 TMCs, as against this, 58.42 TMCs of flood water was released into the sea from June 22 to till date. As of now, Krishna Eastern and Western Deltas have utilized 18.84 TMCs from the flood water, while the usage in the previous year was 23.11 TMCs in the corresponding year.
Moreover, the total surplus into the Bay of Bengal from June 1, 2022, to 31 May 2023 was 1,328.760 TMCs and the usage of the water was 194.360 TMCs. Further, the department is expecting flood will be increased as the projects on the river Krishna’s inflows are increasing.
Almatti, Narayanapur, Ujjaini, and Jurala are significantly receiving more flood water from the upper catchment area. So, the officials of the State expected that the flood would be coming downstream. Also, the upper projects are gradually filled with flood water. There will be a chance to release surplus water downstream at any moment.
At 3 pm on Wednesday, 114.69 TMCs of water was stored in the Almatti Dam. At present, the dam level was 1702.43 feet as against the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 1,705 feet and the officials discharged 60,000 cusecs of water downstream. If another 15 TMCs of water may come into the project, more water will be discharged.
Narayanpur is at the FRL stage and as of now, the water storage was 35.28 TMCs as against the gross capacity of 37.64 TMCs. Also, Jurala has 7.63 TMCs as against the total capacity of 9.66 TMCs, Tungabhadra has 82.16 TMCs as against the total storage capacity of 105.79 TMCs, Srisailam has 89 TMCs out of the FRL of 215.81 TMCs, Nagarjuna Sagar has 140.14 TMCs as against the FRL of 312.05 TMCs, and Pulichintala Project has 34 TMCs as against the gross capacity of 45.77 TMCs.
