Deficit rainfall endangers standing crops in state; water levels low in dams

HYDERABAD:After the initial joy of good rains, showers are now elusive and the quantity of water in irrigation projects is exiguous, which is posing a great danger to the standing crops in the state. Though the Srisailam reservoir has received good amount of water, officials have decided to use only 52 tmcft of water for drinking including 2 tmcft for Mission Bhagiratha.

The projects on Godavari river have no water for irrigation. Whatever little quantity of water is available there will be used for drinking and there is little chance of providing water for agriculture. According to the latest report from the agriculture department, as many as 18 districts have deficit rainfall  whereas 13 districts have had normal rainfall till the current week in this season.

During the current week, the actual rainfall in the state was  just 3 mm as against the normal rainfall of 53.7 mm, a deficit of 94 per cent. Overall, the average rainfall received in the state between June 1 and August 1 was 319.7 mm as against the normal of 378.1 mm, a deficit of 15 per cent. If there are no rains in the next one to two weeks, the situation will turn  worse for the standing crops, say officials.

The present level of water in various reservoirs is dismally low and officials could not save the crops by releasing the required water. On the Godavari, the Jaikwadi dam in Maharashtra has 50 tmcft of water against the full storage capacity of 102 tmcft. “Jaikwadi will cater to the drinking water needs there.
The levels at Sri Ram Sagar, Nizam Sagar and Lower Manair dams on the Godavari are very low.

Though the Srisailam reservoir has received good inflows of Krishna water, the water will be used only for drinking needs. The current storage at Srisailam is 158 tmcft as against 19 tmcft around the same time last year.