The southwest monsoon has been very kind to Andhra Pradesh this season with 10 out of 13 districts receiving excess rainfall from June 1 to October 1 (up to 8.30 a.m.).
The total quantum of water received from rainfall directly in the State and through inflows from the neighbouring states accounted for 8,585.66 tmcft.
The water audit of the SW monsoon revealed that out of 8,585.66 tmcft, we could utilise only 706.05 tmcft, which accounted for 8.22% of the available water in any form.
Post 8.30 a.m. on October 1, another 51.48 tmcft had been received (3.53 tmcft in the form of rain and 47.95 tmcft as inflows into rivers and streams).
As per the audit report, 154.11 tmcft percolated as groundwater, 497.97 tmcft was retained as soil mixture, 311.10 tmct was stored in the reservoirs (284..87 tmcft in major reservoirs, 26.23 tmcft in medium reservoirs, 11.98 tmcft in geo-tagged minor irrigation tanks). The total storage in all forms was 975.16 tmcft, which accounted for 11.3%.
Out of the 706.05 tmcft consumed, 653.29 tmcft went for irrigation, 19.95 tmcft for industry, 32.81 tmcft for domestic purposes.
The total evaporation was 2,113.02 tmcft and the outflow from the State through rivers into other States or into the Bay of Bengal was 3,592.26 tmcft. Outflow in the form of surface and sub-surface flow accounted for 1,199.17 tmcft.
‘Incomplete projects’
These figures show that despite many strategies, the State has not been able to utilise much water due to incomplete projects in the Rayalaseema and North Andhra regions.
The utility could have been drastically improved had the projects started almost a decade ago been completed on time and the Irrigation Department properly maintained the existing structures of canals, agriculture experts opined.