The Almatti reservoir, which is the gateway of sorts for Krishna river, has started discharging over 1.5 lakh cusecs to the dams downstream in the third week of July itself compared to November last year. Water is released downstream only after the dam, which has the capacity of holding 129.7 tmcft, is full. With water being held in different reservoirs in the upper reaches, the two major reservoirs in the state — Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar — are still to receive sizeable inflows.
In 2016, Almatti became full three months late in September and water was released downstream only after that. In 2017, it got filled up in August itself, but then the rains stopped and no water was released from the dam till November.
But for the Godavari, which goes into spate in June itself, coming to the “rescue” of Krishna delta farmers, there would have been no kharif crop those two years.
First riparian right
The farmers of Krishna delta, which has an irrigation system that is 150 years old, enjoy the privilege of the first riparian right. Because of the several reservoirs that have come up subsequently in the upper reaches, there is little water left for them as they are now at the very end of the river. While 110 tmcft to 140 tmcft is required for Krishna delta, only 51 tmcft trickled down the mighty Krishna river to the Krishna delta, which has an ayacut of over 13 lakh acres, in 2015-16.
While Climate Change and “illegal projects in Maharashtra and Karnataka” have left very little to be shared by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh., sharing of river waters is one of the several bones of contention between the two States. While Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar have the combined capacity of over 500 tmcft, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) distributing the available water between the two States gave 36 tmcft to A.P. and 15 tmcft to Telangana.
No water for Krishna delta
Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajendra Prasad, analysing the situation, said there was no water for Krishna delta farmers because it was being used up in the upper reaches of the river. “They have built unauthorised check dams where water is held up and Karnataka farmers are lifting the same with pumps. Areas that were never under cultivation in Karnataka and Maharashtra are now being sown with paddy. Finally, there is no water left for Krishna Delta farmers who are at the end of the river.”
In 1956-57 a surplus of 3,726 tmcft was recorded for Krishna river. But in the last 50 years, the inflows have drastically reduced to double digits. Last year, no surplus was recorded at all. In the last 34 years, a surplus of between 50 tmcft and 350 tmcft was recorded in eight years, surplus of less than 100 tmcft in eleven years. Normal surplus was received in 50% of the the years. In 2002-03, the surplus was only 2 tmcft and in 2015-16 the surplus was just 9 tmcft.
Godavari inflows
The inflows of Godavari have also fallen drastically though there are not many reservoirs on it. In the past five decades, the peak surplus of 7,092.29 tmcft was recorded in 1990, but last year the surplus fell to 1,093.89 tmcft. But with a 1,000 tmcft surplus, Godavari still seems better off than Krishna.
Even though a meagre 6,500 cusecs of water a day was being diverted to Krishna delta through the Pattiseema lift irrigation project, farmers from the Godavari delta are complaining of water shortage. They are alleging that the lifting during the rabi season was being done between December and March at a time when there are no inflows in the river.
While the dams on the major rivers struggle to get filled, heavier rains are needed for the smaller reservoirs to fill.
Tandava is a major irrigation reservoir in Visakhapatnam district with an ayacut of 52,000 acres. “As of now, the total storage in the reservoirs is around 5 tmcft, but a total of 9 tmcft is required. While the inflows are adequate to begin irrigation operations, we expect more rain in the seasons since it is still July,” said an official of the Irrigation Department. As of now only Pedderu with a small ayacut of 9,000 acres seems to have received good inflows.
Even the reservoirs that supply water to Visakhapatnam city’s nearly 20 lakh population have not received adequate inflows.
Only the Yeleru reservoir in East Godavari district is getting good inflows owing to rain in the catchment area and also pumping from the Purushottapatnam Lift Scheme in the second stage. Raiwada from which water is used for Visakhapatnam, Tatipudi in Vizianagaram district and Meghadrigedda closest to the city have not received any considerable inflows owing to paucity of rain.
With inputs from Prasada Sarma and Murali Sankar.