The Krishna River Management Board has fixed water share of 9.3 tmc for Andhra Pradesh and 24.46 tmc for Telangana.
In a water release order issued on Tuesday, the Board has directed that water shall be released from Srisailam reservoir to Nagarjunasagar project through Right power house to met the demands of both the States.
While directing this, the Board wanted a level of 520 ft be maintained up to March 20 and 515 ft up to March 31 at Nagarjunasagar project. This direction comes as the water levels have been coming down significantly.
It said that the water released from Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar project shall preferably be through power houses so as to derive power generation benefits. In case there is no power demand or the releases are not as per actual requirements by the Genco authorities, the balance water may be released through river sluices from the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar project downstream. It directed that the water release order issued by the KMRB shall be implemented by the project authorities in letter and spirit, considering the common needs of both the States.
The water sharing ratio of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for water year 2017-18 is 66:34 excluding minor irrigation and diversion of Godavari waters into the Krishna basin as agreed in an earlier Board meeting. While the requirement of Andhra and Telangna is much higher, factoring the water availability, the Board has arrived at release of 33.7 tmc of water which includes 9.3 tmc for AP and 24.4 tmc for Telangana.
In the recent times, there has been considerable tension between the two States with Telangana highlighting that AP was using up more than the allocation made to the State.
There was tension at Nagarjunasagar dam site with some protests.