The Rayalaseema Saaguneeti Samrakshana Samithi has welcomed the assessment of the silting in the past 10 years from 2011 to 2021 and has demanded the construction of a weir-cum-bridge at Siddeswaram, 26 km upstream Srisailam dam, to increase the lifespan of the project and stop further siltation.
Samithi president Bojja Dasaratharami Reddy said that the work initiated by the Union Water Resources Ministry on Tuesday for assessing the total quantum of water that can be stored in the Srisailam reservoir and the quantum of silting in the past 10 years was a welcome step, but the experts from the Central Water Commission and Ministry of Water Resources along with the State governments must find a solution for reducing the quantum of silt that reaches the Srisailam Dam by constructing a weir at Siddeswaram.
During the first-ever survey of water-holding capacity of the Srisailam dam in 1984, it was assessed that the project could hold 308 tmcft, but in the second survey conducted in 2011 after 27 years, it was found that only 215 tmcft was the holding capacity of the project. “Going by these surveys, it is clear that every year the project was losing 3.4 tmcft of storage capacity and probably the current capacity would be only 185 tmcft,” Mr. Dasaratharami Reddy added.
Ever since the project was constructed, except for five years, there was more than 500 tmcft water reaching the Srisailam dam. Hence it is pertinent to come to a conclusion through proper consultations as to what to do with the water that we will not be able to impound due to siltation. Constructing a weir at Siddeswaram will allow silt to be checked at that point 26 km upstream and farmers can take the fertile silt/soil for their fields when the water recedes in the summer months, Mr. Reddy pointed out.
