When Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao switches on a motor at Markook pump house to commence the impounding of Kondapochamma reservoir with Godavari water on Friday, the moment would not only bring new hope to farmers of the 2.85 lakh acres of intended ayacut with gravity flow but also create a possibility for 24×7 water supply in Hyderabad.
It’s from the Kondapochamma reservoir that the State government plans to take water to one of the two proposed balancing reservoirs outside the city for uninterrupted water supply in future. The reservoir water serves the drinking water storage facility proposed in the northern side of the city with Shamirpet lake as one of the options. On the western side of the city, the government plans another storage facility with water from Palamuru-Rangareddy LI project.
Package-14, as part of Link-IV of Kaleshwaram project, has two lifts at Akkaram and Markook village to pump water in two stages to Kondapochammasagar at about 3.5 km away from the first pumping facility.
According to officials of MEIL, the executing agency of the two pump houses, lift one near Akkaram has six pumps with 27 MW capacity motors each with a discharge capacity of 35.4 cumecs (1,250 cusecs) each and lift two at Markook has another six pumps with 34 MW capacity each and discharge capacity of 36 cumecs (1,271 cusecs) each.
The delivery mains, pipes carrying water from the pump house to the reservoir, of the first lift would run for 2.474 km, while for the second lift, it is 1.084 km. The water would be lifted for 57 metres at the Akkaram pump house, while it would be lifted for another 71 metres at Markook pumping facility.
Works pertaining to the two lifts including erection of motors and installation of other equipment have been completed on a fast-track basis. Work on the two electrical sub-stations at Akkaram and Markook were completed earlier this month, after technicians were brought to the sites during the third week of April with special permissions from Maharashtra and Telangana governments with the lockdown on.
According to project engineers, it would take at least 23 days to impound Kondapochammasagar at Pamulaparthy village of Markook mandal in Siddipet district from zero to full reservoir level (15 tmc ft capacity) by running all 12 pumps in the two stages (lifts) simultaneously.
As part of the redesigning of the earlier Pranahita-Chevella project into Kaleshwaram and Pranahita projects, the capacity of Kondapochamma reservoir was first increased from the original 1 tmc ft to 7 tmc ft and then to 15 tmc ft.
The reservoir capacity was increased not only to irrigate more land but also to supply 24x7 water to a dependable water storage facility in Hyderabad.